Pokèmar Episode 4: Explorers of Time
by finalfrontier2048
Summary: Washed onto a beach and devoid of memory, Alex Russet has found himself wanting for answers. Meanwhile time itself it falling apart at the seems. Alex must rediscover his past quickly, before it's too late... (An adaptation of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky) 4/11 in the Pokèmar series.
1. Washed Ashore

_"Augh! What the-"_

 _"Something's wrong! I'm... No! No! Help!"_

 _"Alex! I've got you!"_

 _"What is happening!? I'm slipping!_

 _"Just hold on Alex! We're almost there!"_

 _"I... I can't..."_

 _ **THOOM!**_

 _"Alex! Alex no! ALEX!"_

My mind slips back into consciousness, those words floating through my empty head. I... I can't remember anything... why can't I remember? What happened to my memories?

I breathe in, only for my lungs be assaulted by an intense burning sensation. The heck? what's going on? I open my eyes. Everything is blurred and hard to see. Plus my eyes start to sting. Then it all makes sense. I'm underwater. How I got underwater is beyond me. But that's not important now.

I swim upwards, breaching the surface coughing and choking on the inhaled water. A flash of lightning streaks far above my head. Massive waves roll across the water's surface. I am in the middle of a storm. Because that's exactly what I needed after waking up suddenly.

A wave crashes into me from behind, forcing me back under. Thankfully I wasn't breathing in this time.

I once again breach the surface, only to, again, be pushed back under. I can't keep this up... A lightning strike illuminates something in the distance. At first glance, it looks like a gigantic creature with jagged, sharp teeth. But after my little startle at that thought, I realize that it's nothing more than a bluff. A big, intimidating bluff.

It's also the only bit of land I've seen so far. And I need to get onto dry land if I want to have any chance for survival. That being the case, I start swimming over, and thank my lucky stars that I learned to swim somewhere in those missing memories. I may not remember learning it, but the skills are still there.

The waters were rough and the journey long and exhausting. Several times I nearly drowned. But, just as I was ready to give out, the waves toss me onto a beach shore. Finally... Land... That's the last thing I remember before passing out...

 _Pikachu_

"Come on, Pikachu... you can do this... you can do this..." The small mouse muttered to himself, trying to hype himself up. He stand in front of a small hut shaped like a WIgglytuff. The "mouth" of the hut is covered by a small portcullis to keep crooks and the like out.

"You've dreamed of this for years... You're **not** going to wuss out now..." He clutched a stone artifact in his grip tightly. he starts timidly waling towards the guild building. "I can do this..." He steps foot on the grate, shaking nervously.

"Please stand still! Checking your footprint!" A voice called from bellow.

"I can do this. I can do this... I can't do this!" Pikachu runs, scared, shamed and defeated. "I'm a coward... I can't do it." He sighs. He had hoped that holding his artifact would help bolster his strength. But no such luck. Depressed, he decides to head down to Krabby Beach, his happy place, to calm down.

 _?_

 _"You see what he had there, Koffing? That stone thing?"_

 _"I did, Zubat. Looks valuable."_

 _"I bet that'll sell on the black market for a hefty sum."_

 _"Let's go find out."_

 _Pikachu_

Krabby Beach... his happy place. He comes here whenever he needs a bit of positivity. Like now, for instance. It's especially nice when the young Krabby that live here come out early in the morning to blow bubbles. As childish as it sounds, the sight is actually quite beautiful. As the light of the sunrise refracts of the surface of the bubbles, it create a mesmerizing lightshow. A sight that just makes all your troubles and worries melt away.

Pikachu sighs, soaking in the view. He will never grow tired of this. "One day..." he says to himself. "One day I'll be brave enough to get in the guild. I just know it!" He's gone through this routine countless times. And it's always the same. There's always a sting of hollowness to his words. This time, though. This time feels different.

Something catches his eye. sitting in the wet sand was a green... thing... "What the..." Then it dawns on him. It's a Pokemon! What is he doing here!? Is he alive? May as well check. He gets up to investigate the Treeko lying before him. There's no movement... but his body is still warm. He jostles the body slightly. "Treeko? are you alright? Please be alive..."

 _Alex_

"Ungh..." I groan. I hear a voice. They sound concerned. I try to speak but end up coughing up water. A lot of water. Guess it's still there from before. My trachea roars in pain as the fluid travels back up and onto the sand below.

"Woah!" The voice yells. "That's a lot of water! What happened to you?!"

I spit the remaining water out. my lungs significantly more free than before. Looking up, my eyes meet with a rodent. About my height. Yellow fur with red cheeks. The heck is this? "Ugh... I don't... remember... I can't remember anything..."

"Wow. you must have been battered against some rocks during the storm. Though I don't see any bruising... strange..."

"I... I know _some_ thing... My name... Alex Russet... I remember a voice saying not to let go... and that I'm a human... That's all I got."

"A... human? Mister, I hate to break it to you but... you're a Treeko."

"A Treeko? What are you-" A quick glance at my hands confirms his words. I was a green reptilian creature. Apparently called a Treeko. "Ah! I... guess I am..."

"This isn't some sort of elaborate prank, is it? Pretending to be an amnesiac human in a Treeko body?"

"No! No no no! I swear! I'm telling the truth!" Judging by his expression, he's still skeptical.

"...Alright. I guess it doesn't make much of a difference anyway. I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm-Ow!" He abruptly ends his statement as a sort of living purple balloon bumps into him. I'm beginning to think I'm having a fever dream or something... "Hey! Be careful! You almost knocked me over!"

"Sorry, Little one. I just needed to take something from you." the balloon replies.

"I got it, Koffing!" An eyeless bat calls to his apparent partner. He is carrying a stone object with his... legs? Could those be considered legs?

"Hey!" The rodent yells. "Give that back! That's mine!"

"Yeah?" Koffing taunts. "you can't even muster up the courage to enter a door. What makes you think you could take this back?" The poor thing shrinks back in fear, clearly intimidated by these guys. I can't stand this...

"Enough." I intrude. "You are going to return that. Now."

"Uh oh!" The bat jeers. "We've got ourselves a Treeko with a death wish! Picking on two poison types was a bad idea mister. And you're going to regret it. big time." You know... I'm beginning to think he's right... Still... No turning back now...


	2. Befriended

There was no avoiding the fight. The two thieves were closing in fast. And judging by the fact that the yellow mouse was cowering well away, I was on my own. Two poison types. both airborne. The bat is fast, but Koffing is a bit slower. I could probably- Wait a minute! How do I know so much about fighting?! What could I possibly have in my past life that would give me skills like this?!

I am given no more time to ponder as Koffing spews what I can only assume is a toxic gas of some form. Instinctively, I leap back and out of the way, though still catching a slight whiff of the gas. The sulfuric scent combined with the burning sensation in my nostrils is more than enough to convince me to never breathe that stuff in directly.

Now's the time to make my move. I'm not really that strong in my current state so I'll have to adapt for that. Hit-and-run tactics seem like the best idea.

"Zubat! Go get him!" Koffing commands.

"Right away!" He replies, dropping the stone. My opponent flies straight at me, intending to sink is fangs inside me. But, out of reflex, I dodge. He comes around for another pass, and I dodge again, moving faster than I ever thought I could go. During his third pass I manage to land a punch, causing him to fall flat in the sand before getting airborne one again.

"Guess you're tougher than we thought..." Zubat says. "But you won't win!

"We'll see about that." I reply, more confident in my abilities. In my peripheral vision I spot a stick-like piece of driftwood. I think I can use you that as a weapon. But I need to distract them first so I have the time to get it. I feign an attack on the, tricking them into a defensive state. Of course, I didn't attack. No, I broke off, headed for the stick. By the time they realized what I did, it was already in my hands.

Zubat divebombs me, but my new tool manages to swat him out of the sky, leaving him incapacitated on the sand.

"You're going to pay for that, pipsqueak." Koffing grumbles. He breathes out another cloud of toxic gas. I take a deep breath before charging my way through the cloud, doing a 360 degree swing to send him flying into the shallows.

And just like that, it was over. The two thieves reconvene as I take back the artifact and return it to it's rightful, and shocked, owner.

"Pah!" Koffing grumbles. "You got lucky." Were our boss here you would be plant food."

"Yeah, yeah. It wasn't a fair fight. You cheated. It was a fluke, I get the idea. Now get out of here!" The two begrudgingly agree and depart.

"You'd better watch your back, Treeko! We ain't finished with you, yet!"

"And for the record, my name is Alex!" I yell back. "Heh... Typical cocky thieves..." I chuckle to myself before turning my attention back to my new friend.

"That was amazing! How did you do that?!"

"Honestly, I don't know... I think they're skills from whatever past I had. Anyways, what's so special about this thing, anyway?"

"It's a personal treasure of mine. I call it the Relic Fragment." Seems like an appropriate name. It does appear to be a fragment of... something. A smooth topped stone with an intricate pattern on top. "I found it when I was exploring a mystery dungeon. See... I'm interested in Mythology and Historiography, the study of history. Tales of legendaries and ancient wars, The creation of our world and the predictions of the future. It all fascinates me This is sort of symbolic of that. I hope to one day figure out exactly what it is." That's pretty cool. It's nice to see someone so i to a subject like that. Gives meaning to their life. "Oh, and before I forget, thank you for helping to get this back."

"No problem. So what's next for you?"

"Have you heard of the Wigglytuff Guild?"

"Considering I don't have any memories, no."

"It's a very famous exploration guild. They lead the charge in uncovering the rest of Sinnoh Minor."

"So this continent is unexplored?"

"Yeah. It's the last of the major landmasses we have yet to chart. So when I saw they were accepting new recruits, I was ecstatic. But..."

"But what?"

"I've never been able to bring myself to do it. I'm just too cowardly... Every time I try I just run back. I even tried bringing my relic fragment with for good luck. But Maybe it's not meant to be..." Dang... Poor guy... His dreams crushed by his fear... I wish I could-

Actuary... This could work out. Perhaps all he needs is someone to stay by his side and keep pushing him forward. And I need a place to stay while I try to piece my past back together. If we cooperated, It would benefit the both of us.

"Maybe you just need someone to come with you."

"Who would do such a thing for me? Nobody ever has..."

"What about me? I mean, I see no reason not to."

"You're serious?"

"Completely. We go in together." For a moment he just stands there, flabbergasted by my offer. Then his face lights up with cheer.

"Oh thank you! Thank you! I cant believe you're actually doing this for me!"

"It'll be my pleasure. Oh! And can I get your name?

"Pikachu. I'm Pikachu." Pikachu... Why is that familiar? Perhaps staying with him was a better idea than I thought. "Come on! Let's go!"

? ﾟﾕﾒ? ﾟﾕﾖ? ﾟﾕﾛ

"I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea, Alex..." Pikachu nervously mutters.

"It's okay. I know it's intimidating. But we're going to make it through this. I'll be right behind you the entire time."

"...O-okay..." Slowly Pikachu makes it up to the grate. I rest my hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

"Hold still! Checking footprint!" What the... okay... did not expect that. Pikachu is trembling, terrified.

"You're doing great, Pikachu. Come on. You can do this." My words seem to comfort him a slight bit.

"You are Pikachu! You may enter! Now bring the other pokemon onto the grate!" And just like that, all the fear dissipated from his eyes.

"I... I did it?" He asks, almost as if he doesn't believe it. "I did! I DID IT!" I am immediately caught off guard by a massive yellow rodent bear hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou! This has been my dream!"

"Look! I hate to ruin the moment, but we need to check the other pokemon!" The voice from below calls back up to us.

"Right. my turn." I say to myself, stepping up to the grate.

"Hold still! Checking footprint!" I do so, waiting for the go-ahead to step off. but, for whatever reason, it's taking quite a bit longer than before.

"What do you mean you can't tell what it is?! This is literally all your job is! Identify footprints so we don't let bad guy in the guild!" I hear another voice bellow from below. Guess they're having trouble. "MAYBE Treeko!? Maybe?! You should know this!" A full minute passes as they continue to bicker.

"Alright! Come on in!" Suddenly, the gate in front of the hut opens, revealing a ladder down into the cliff side below.

"We're actually doing it!" Pikachu sequels. "We're going to be guild members! Come on, Alex!" With that, he quickly rushes down the ladder. Sheesh. He needs to be careful. he could get himself hurt. Regardless, I follow behind, curious as to where my life will go from here...


	3. The Wigglytuff Guild

The guild is much bigger than I anticipated. It's a network of caves dug into the cliff side where many pokemon from all walks of life meet to do their duties. And what's weirder, I think I know what some of them are called. Sunflora, Chimecho, Dugtrio, how do I know this?

"This is awesome! Look at everyone here! Oh man..." Pikachu cries out with infectious joy. "Come on. We need to find out where to register ourselves."

"You two looking to register?" A voice from within the crowd inquires. A colorful bird pokemon emerges, hopping towards us. "I'll be able to handle that. My name is Chatot. I work as the second-in-command of the Wigglytuff guild." He looks us over, as if to judge if we're "guild material," beginning to drum up Pikachu's nerves again. "So, you want to join the guild? Are you ready for the hardships that come with it?"

"Hardships?" Pikachu asks nervously. It seems the thought of difficulty hadn't crossed his mind before.

"Yeah. It's hard work. Long, tiring, and dangerous. You'd be surprised how many new recruits bail within the first week." Pikachu begins to squirm nervously. This definitely wasn't what he was expecting. But I can't just let him bail. Not when he's so close.

"We are ready." I quickly say, trying to keep Pikachu from retreating. "My friend here has dreamed of this forever. And what's life without challenges?

He doesn't look entirely convinced. But he seems willing to let us go through with it. "Alright then. Follow me. I'll take you to the Guildmaster."

? ﾟﾕﾒ? ﾟﾕﾖ? ﾟﾕﾛ

It isn't far until we reach the door labeled "Guildmaster's Room." I begin to feel anxious. We need to make a good impression on him, else we may be kicked out.

"Now," Chatot says in a strangely more stern voice. His feathers are significantly messier than before. Almost like a shift in personality. "Before we go in, I have to tell you something. You must never, ever, upset the Guildmaster. There will be severe consequences if you do and not from me." And just as suddenly as frightening stern Chatot appeared, he vanished and our guide returns to his normal self. "Are we clear."

"Uh... yeah..." Pikachu responded, slightly unnerved.

"Good. Now let's not keep him waiting." Chatot opens the door to the guildmaster's room. and we are greeted by, who else, a Wigglytuff. And holy crap... He is just creepy. A smile that never seems to vanish and eyes that I swear never blink. If there ever was something to be called nightmare fuel, this was it. And then he speaks...

"Hello, new friends! Welcome to my guild! We are going to have so much fun together!" The voice just makes it so much worse. I feel like he's the sort of guy that would stare at me while I sleep. And Pikachu appears to feel very similarly to me. "If you two want to be a team here, you're going to want to call yourselves something. What'll it be?"

"Oh... I... I didn't think that far ahead..." Pikachu says quietly. So much for that first impression.

"It's okay!" Wigglytuff cheers. "You can figure it out right now!"

"Any ideas, Alex?" let's see... something to represent us both...

"How about..." I respond, still in mid thought. "Team Shock-Leaf? Basic, but it does it's job."

"That's actually a cool sounding name. Sure! We are Team Shock-Leaf!"

"Wonderful!" Wigglytuff cries out with joy. This guy is going to be in my nightmares tonight... I know already. "Now! Let me just get you your new stuff... here we are!" Reaching under his desk he pulls out a cardboard box and sets it down in front of us. "In here are your badges, bandannas, and your treasure bag. My friend Chatot will show you to your new room." Chatot nods in agreement. Pikachu excitedly opens the box and takes out our new things, handing me a bandanna and a badge. The badge appear to be silver. An egg-like shape with a purple gem on the lower half of it with wings on either side.

Wasting no time I put the bandanna and badge on, turning to my companion who has done the same thing.

"It looks good on you." I tell him.

"You're looking good yourself." He replies. "So, Mr. Chatot. We're ready to see our rooms."

"Alright then. Follow me."

? ﾟﾕﾒ? ﾟﾕﾖ? ﾟﾕﾛ

Our room is actually quite nice. I wouldn't call it extravagant, but it's nice enough. I like how our window is embedded in the side of the cliff, giving us a clear view of the landscape ahead of us.

"This is so awesome! I can't believe this is actually happening! I'm actually going to be part of the guild! Pikachu cheers excitedly. It's nice to see someone so positive and filled with energy.

"Feel free to explore the guild at your leisure. Your missions begin tomorrow. So make sure to rest up. I look forward to seeing you two out there. Good luck!" With those words, he leaves our room.

"Alex," Pikachu starts. "I wanted to just say that I really, really appreciate what you've done for me. You barely even know me, and yet you've done so much to helping me achieve my dreams. I promise you, I'll never forget that."

"It helps that this benefits the both of us. I have nowhere to go. At least that I know of. So being able to stay here for the foreseeable future seemed like a good idea."

"Yeah. I know. But you could have just gone on your own. but you didn't. You accompanied me and helped me fight through my fear. I am honored to call someone like you my teammate and friend."

"I can already tell we'll be doing great things together." And maybe figuring out a bit more about my past. I mean, we're bound to come across something sooner or later, right? "So, what now?"

"I say we go and see what the guild has to offer us. We'll be spending a good chunk of our time here, so we might as well be familiarized with it."

"Sounds like a plan, Pikachu. Let's go take a look around."


	4. Day One

"GET OUT OF BED, YOU LAZY SLAKOTHS!" Our peaceful sleep has been disturbed by a yell so loud that I could feel the room itself vibrate.

"Augh!" I scream out of surprise. The intruder was none other than Loudred, one of the loudest pokemon ever to walk the face of Pokemar. "Mother of... What was that for!?"

"YOU TWO LAZY BUMS OVERSLEPT! THE GUILD MEETING IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! I'M NOT GOING TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF YOU TWO ARE NO-SHOWS! SO GET UP!"

"Alright! Alright! We're getting up!"

"I think my eardrums burst..." Pikachu commented, clutching his ears in pain.

"We'll have to worry about that later, Pikachu. Let's just get ready." I get myself out of bed, helping Pikachu up as well. Not wanting another ear-shattering scream, we get a move on to the central area. I really hope he doesn't do this every morning...

? ﾟﾕﾒ? ﾟﾕﾖ? ﾟﾕﾛ

The whole guild was gathered up in the center section of the guild. In front was Wigglytuff and Chatot, the former suspiciously still. Probably best not to dwell on it.

"Good morning, everyone." Chatot begins just as we take our places. "I know you all are waiting to get out and start exploring so I'll make this quick. We have a new team here at the guild. If you two would please, step forward so we can all see you." Not wanting to keep him waiting, we do so, weaving our way through the crowd to the front. "Now, please introduce yourselves." I felt a bit of stage fright grab hold of me. I force it aside. No reason to let it impair me. Though it looks like Pikachu may struggle a bit more than me.

"Hello." I begin, taking the heat off my partner for a short while. "I'm Alex of Team Shock-Leaf. I'm-" No. Don't just say you're a human. You'll be the laughingstock of the whole guild. "-not sure where I'm from. I was washed up on the beach to the west two nights ago. Must've hit a rock or something because I've only got a few miscellaneous details that don't relate to each other."

"Wow..." Came voices from the crowd. "That's so sad." "The poor Treeko." "What was he doing out at sea anyway?"

"Alright! Alright, everyone. Quiet down. We still have one recruit to do yet." Chatot interrupts, turning to my nervous partner. I also do, giving him a comforting smile.

I mouth the words "You got this." to him, which seems to help him.

"My... M-My name is... Pikachu. ...I'm just speechless. I never imagined I would actually be here, standing inside the guild. And I'm eternally thankful that you're willing to give me a chance. So... thank you." Several in the crown give applause. I watch as relief surges through him.

"Thank you Alex. Pikachu. Anything you'd like to add, Guildmaster?" Oh yeah! Wigglytuff is here too! He's been so quiet I hardly knew he was there. But for some reason he opts to stay silent. Just staring. Unblinking. "Guildmaster?" Wait... Is he... snoring? Is he asleep!? How!? When?! Mummers in the crowd tell me that I'm not the only one who noticed. "Um..." Chatot continues. "...nevermind. Let's just do our daily cheer. Let's show our new recruits how it's done. The three guild rules!"

"One!" The crowd chants in unison. "Don't shirk work!" Why would that be a fundamental rule? I would think that goes without saying.

"Two! Run away and pay!" Woah! Wait a minute! That seems a bit aggressive and unnecessary.

"Three! Smiles go for miles!" And of course they end on a cheesy one...

"Excelent! Now, To work!" Chatot closes out. The crowd gives one last shout before dispersing. "Alright, you two. I'll help you with your first mission. Please. Follow me." He starts walking, or rather, hopping, towards a notice board a little ways away. "You two came at quite the opportune time. With all the time distortions and all."

"Time distortions?" I inquire. All I get for my efforts as a confused stare from Chatot.

"How have you not heard? Everyone's talking about it."

"Amnesia, remember?"

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"I'll explain." Pikachu adds in. "Lately time seems to be having a few hiccups. No one knows why. But this instability has created a great many more mystery dungeons. You know what those are, right?"

"Actually... I think I do... unpredictable land where everything changes. Things mysteriously appear in them and the changes make charting them near impossible."

"Glad to know you still have something rattling around in that head of yours."

We reach the notice board and Chatot tuns to us, calling for our attention. "This is the request board. Aside from our regular exploration duties, we often lend a hand to the locals of Treasure Town. That way when we have explored the continent completely, we won't have to shut down. Now then. Let's start you two off with something simple..." He scouts over the many different requests pinned to the corkboard, trying to decide. "Ah! Here we are. A Spoink has asked us to recover a pearl of his he accidentally left at Drenched Bluff."

"...Wait... Are you serious?" Pikachu growls. "You're sending us on a freaking fetch quest?! I joined the guild to explore! Not to do some menial tasks while everyone else has the time of their lives!"

Almost immediately, Chatot goes into stern mode. "Watch your tongue, rookie! Like it or not, You are under our jurisdiction! And we aren't going to just throw you out into uncharted lands without you proving you have what it takes! Now, stow the attitude and listen to me. Is that clear?"

Pikachu, clearly caught off guard by Chatot's little speech, backs away slightly. "Ah! Uh... Sorry. I won't do it again!" And with his apology, Chatot's feathers smooth back out and be is once again calm.

"Good! So Drenched Bluff isn't the most dangerous of mystery dungeons, but I've seen cocky and overconfident recruits go in before and come back bruised and empty handed. So before you go make sure you're prepared. And do your best not to let your guard down. I see a lot of promise in you two and I'd hate to lose you."

"Yes sir." I respond.

"Ok. Head to the storeroom to your left. Take only what will fit in your bag. I expect to see you back this afternoon. Good luck."


	5. Test of Courage

I can see why it's called Drenched Bluff. Mist kicked up from the crashing waves of the ocean constantly wet the rocks that make up this cliff, making them slick. Though, being a mystery dungeon, there had to be a network of mazes somewhere. And that somewhere was at the top of the cliff, creating a strange carved-in labyrinth embedded in the stone.

Judging by the nature of the dungeon, it's primarily water types. Which means Pikachu and I have a very distinct advantage. But considering what Chatot said, this place may have a nasty surprise waiting for us. Best to stay on guard.

"How's it going, Pikachu?" I ask.

"Nervous, but I think I can handle it." Pikachu assures me.

"Good. Let's get started. The sooner we get the pearl, the sooner we can go." I pull out a little something I decided to get that would help us on our mission. The merchant called it a Wonder Map. It is capable of showing your position on the planet on the map. plus, as new land is discovered, the map updates to show it. Then, on the other side is a map of a similar function, except it's made to navigate mystery dungeons. Hence why we bought it. "I say we start looking down the south path. Something tells me it's down that way."

"Alright... Lead on." I nod in response and walk towards the southern path, only to be stopped by a Shellos. "Ack!" Pikachu yelps in surprise.

"Hey, relax. It's a water type. we have an advantage. Hit it with a thunder shock."

"Um... uh... How about you take this one?"

"Come on, Pi- AH! Hey!" In retrospect, turning my attention away from our attacker wasn't the best idea. And as a result, I get hit with a mud slap. "Fricking..." I respond with absorb, draining a sizable portion of his vitality and re-energizing myself with it. The process is too much for the Shellos as he passes out on the ground afterwards.

"Whew..." Pikachu sighs "I was worried there."

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Pikachu, you can't rely on me to fight your battles. We're a team. And as such, ever member needs to pull their weight. There will be times that I need you watching my back. And I need to know you'll be there."

"I know. I just... I'm such a Wimpod..."

"Don't say that. I know you can be braver. After all, you managed to join the guild, didn't you? In spite of debilitating fear."

"Yeah, but-"

"Listen, No matter what happens, I will be by your side. Whatever we face, we do it together." I wait, letting my words sink in.

"You're right. I can do this. Thank you."

"My pleasure. Now let's get a move on."

A couple of minor skirmishes later, we reach what appears to be the end of the dungeon. If the pearl isn't here, we're not going to be able to find it.

"See anything?" I ask.

"Yeah... Something pink and shiny. Looks like the pearl we're after." He responds.

"Perfect! let's go get it!" We run to the pink sphere laying on the ground. Much to my surprise, it wasn't dented or damaged in any way. The thing mast be made of some resilient material. to be just left out here like this.

Pikachu quickly snatches it up, fumbling a slight bit. "Woah. A little heavier than I expected." It doesn't take long for him to stabilize himself, though. "Come on, Alex! Let's get this back to the gui-" Suddenly, my partner goes silent. The reason is quite obvious. An Armaldo had decided he has a bone to pick with us. A tough target. But if we work together, we should be fine.

"Ok... Bigger than what we've seen before... We just have to-"

"Alex... Alex I can't. I'm to scared... I can't!" Oh no...

"Pikachu, I need you here! I can't fight him alone! I need you!"

The terrified rodent looks back and forth between me and the Armaldo. After what seemed like an eternity, he makes his decision. Without a word, he beelines it back the way we came, away from me ant our opponent.

"Pikachu! Don't just leave me!" I cry back to him, to no avail. He wasn't coming back. I needed to deal with this myself.

"Quite the friend there. Such loyalty." He taunts. "Fast too. Lucky that. Else I would go and catch him. But I'll settle for beating your lights out instead." Oh... this is bad... This is very, very bad...

Without any warning he lunges at me with fury cutter. I barely manage to dodge the attack, only to be met with a swipe from his tail. I try to use absorb on him, to very little success. "I am so dead..." I mumble to myself. He uses fury cutter again, this time it connects, shattering even the faintest hope of success as I collapse.

"Heh..." The Armaldo chuckles. "Wasn't even worth my time." A last kick in the face is enough to cause me to black out.

"I am ashamed of you! Leaving your teammate to die because you were scared?! You're lucky that pokemon only wanted to knock him out!"

"Well, I got the pearl at least-"

"At what cost! Be thankful you're not being kicked out of the Guild for this!" I begin to stir once more, coming back into consciousness. The first things I see are Chatot berating Pikachu and the walls of our room. Guess I was brought back to the Guild. Slowly I get myself back up.

"Alex!" Pikachu cries out. "You're okay!"

"No thanks to you..." Chatot mutters. "I'll let you, deal with him, Alex. You probably know him better than I do." With those words he hops out the door, leaving us alone.

The room is gripped in an awkward silence as we both try to think of what to say. I admit. I'm angry. He bailed on me. But at the same time I feel sorry for him. He probably wanted to help me but couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Alex..." Pikachu is the first to break the silence. "I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean-"

"Look. I'm not going to repeat what Chatot said. But this needs to stop. Next time I might not make it out alive. We're partners. So we need to have each other's backs. Afraid or not. I need to be able to trust and rely on you. Can I do that?"

"I... I'll try."

I sigh. "I guess that's the best we can ask for. Anyways, lets go get something to eat. I'm famished."

"No argument there."


	6. Premonititons

As the days go by, we continue our missions. I continue to try and guide Pikachu to be braver and braver, to mixed results. We never had another incident like the first time again, so that's a definite improvement. At the same time, he is clearly enjoying the work more and more. In time, he should be able to handle himself.

"ALRIGHT YOU TWO! RISE AND SHINE!" Once again, Loudred decides to give us our wake up call. Much to my dismay, he acts as the alarm clock of the Guild. So we have to hear his booming voice every morning. Not ideal.

"Uhgh..." I mumble. "You couldn't, I don't know, lower your voice a little?"

"NOPE! NOT AN OPTION!"

"Fine... Come on, Pikachu. Let's go."

"Right behind you, Alex."

"Huh... slow day. Not a lot of requests." I observe. The request board is very empty. It appears this will be a quiet day. "Most of these are for areas we are most certainly not ready for. I don't think we'll be able to do any missions today."

"Aw, That's a shame. I was actually looking forward to it."

"Ah well. I say we take a walk around Treasure Town, see what everyone's up to. Take a look around. We've been so busy we've never been able to really do that."

"That sound's good. Hopefully Chatot won't get too upset."

"If he does, it was my idea. Not yours."

Treasure Town. Being one of the only towns on the border of the frontier one would expect some unruliness. But surprisingly not. It's extremely peaceful. I rarely, if ever, see something questionable go down here. And recently I've learned a possible reason why.

The Guild also acts as a local law enforcement group. The powerful and skilled of them are often sent to apprehend threatening pokemon before damage can be done Eventually, we'll be among them. Both an exciting and frightening thought.

A particular place that catches my eye among the many colorful shops and other establishments is the Kecleon Brother's Store. One of hundreds of their kind littered all across Pokemar. It's an international company that prides itself with consistent prices not altered by region and a frightening policy on theft. Try and steal something from them, expect to be bedridden for about two weeks. I've heard rumors of them downing professionals within seconds. Makes their outwardly friendly appearance all the more frightening.

"Hey there." I wave and call out to the two Kecleon managing the store One of them was a shiny, much to my surprise. "You two wouldn't happen to have any heal seeds, would you?"

"Sadly no." The shiny one answered. "We were supposed to get a shipment in two weeks ago. But those time distortions have been throwing off water-based pokemon for a while now. A couple of times ferries have been lost at sea, becoming unable to accurately navigate."

"Wow." Pikachu joins in. "That's horrible... If only there was a way to stop these distortions."

"If only..."

"Kecleon! Hey Kecleon! It's us again!" A childish voice cheers from behind us. And Azurill and Marill come bounding up to the counter, both very cheerful.

"Ah!" The non-shiny Kecleon begins. "It's Azumarill's boys! Your mother still feeling ill?"

"Yeah, sadly." Marill replies. "But she's on the mend! She asked us to grab some groceries for her."

"Aw, how sweet. What do you need?"

"Just a bag of apples. Nothing too much."

"Sounds good. Just give me a second." He turns back to the shelves behind him and picks out a back filled with fresh apples, setting them down on the counter. "80 poke, please." Azurill takes out a 100 poke coin and sets it on the counter.

"There you go, mister!" He says cheerfully. The Kecleon quickly gets out some more smaller value coins to give to them as change. Wait... 30 poke? that's their change? That can't be right... Apparently the three children agree. "Wait! Mister, you gave us too much!" I half expect Marill to try and shut up his younger brother, but thankfully not. My goodness, Azumarill raised some very polite and moral kids!

"It's a gift from us. Don't go spending it all in one place, now." The kid's eyes widen, surprised by this turn of event.

"Thank you, sir! We really appreciate it." Marill says in gratitude. "We should hurry back. Mother is waiting."

"Right!" Azuril agrees. But as they turn to leave, Azuril stumbles a bit, causing an apple to fall out of the bag. I swiftly reach down to pick it up, handing it back to it's owner. "Oh! Thank you mister." He takes the apple from my hand, his own hand brushing up against mine in the process. Then... something strange happens.

My vision starts to blur suddenly and my sense of direction decides to take a backseat. I stumble back dizzily in response. A sharp pain rings out in my skull and everything flashes white. That's when I hear something.

"Get away from me! Somebody help me!" Wait! That's Azuril's voice! What's going on!

Just as soon as it started, it stops. All effects of whatever just happened have vanished. I just stare, blank-eyed, trying to make sense of my experience.

"Alex?" Pikachu asks. "Are you okay? You looked dizzy for a second there."

"I... I heard... I heard Azuril... He was crying out for help..."

"But... I didn't say anything." Azuril responds, confused.

"You probably just imagined it. Try and relax." Thunder urges me. He's probably right. It was just my imagination. But... was it really? It felt so vivid. That... flash of light. It's definitely not normal. There's something going on here.

"We should hurry. Mother is waiting for us." Marill calls to his brother.

"OK. Take care, misters." With that, they make their way back home, leaving us alone.

"It was just so vivid. I really don't think that was some imagined thing. I heard something. I know I did."

"You said it was Azuril's voice. But he didn't say anything so that couldn't have been him. What else could it have been but your own imagination?"

"...I don't know... I guess obsessing over it won't do much good. I hear a training dojo opened up today. perhaps we should go take a look.

"I like that. we can hone our skills a bit there. Let's go."


	7. Distress Call

The next day progresses in much the same way as yesterday. Another quiet day with very few jobs available. I suppose it's not that unusual. There will always be quiet days. Guess I didn't expect two in a row.

So to do at least something productive today, I decided to try my hand at sentry duty. I would sit below the grate in front of the guild and check everyone's footprints, trying to determine of they're safe to let in.

I did horribly. Seriously! How am I supposed to know the difference between a Poochyena and an Eevee with only their footprints!? And Loudred. Don't even get me started on him. Every little mistake I made was echoed back at me at full volume. I honestly can't believe I can still hear.

After that whole ordeal, Pikachu recommended that we go take a walk to relax a bit. I agreed, considering we've got nothing better to do at the moment.

We are currently on our way back to the Guild, when we see some familiar faces.

"Hey! Azuril and Marill!" Pikachu calls out. "What's up with you two?"

"Oh! Pikachu! Alex! Good to see you again!" Marill replies. "We were just asking Drowzee if he knew where our water float was. And by sheer luck, he does!"

"I saw it up on Mt. Bristle. I was just about to lead these two to it." Drowzee interjects.

"Huh? Mt. Bristle?" Pikachu asks, slightly confused. "That place isn't very safe. Azumarill let you go there?"

"We didn't go there." Azuril answers. "Someone stole it from us and put it there. We've been looking for a few days." I'm not so sure about this... Something's wrong... I don't know what, but something feels very wrong.

"Ok, you two." Drowzee beckons. "Let's try and get there before nightfall. Wouldn't want your mother to be worried about you two."

"Absolutely, mister Drowzee!" The three of them pass us by, headed north to the mountain. Drowzee accidentally bumps into me, knocking me back a slight bit.

"Whoops. Sorry about that. Excuse me." He apologies as he moves to go around me.

"No harm done." I respond politely. Suddenly, my vision blurs, just like yesterday. Dizziness overcomes me. What is this!? What's happening to me!? A sharp pain in my skull and my world, once again, becomes white. Then, surprisingly, the light gives way to a rocky precipice on a mountainside. But what interests me the most is the sight directly in front of me. Azuril is cowering in fear as Drowzee looms over him.

"Listen, little guy, if you don't cooperate with me, things are going to end very badly for you." Drowzee threatens.

"Get away from me! Somebody help me!" The terrified child screams. What is this?! Is this some sort of vision? Is he actually in danger?!

In an instant, I'm whisked back to reality. I can see the three of them in the distance. They're out of earshot, but if we hurry we could catch them.

"Pikachu, we have to stop them."

"Huh!? What are you talking about?"

"I saw something. A vision. Drowzee Isn't trying to help them! He's luring them into a trap!"

"Alex! Relax! Why would he do that? They don't have anything valuable so robbing them seems pointless."

"I need you to believe me. I know what I saw! Please!"

"Alex... Calm down. You're overreacting. They'll be fine. You're just letting your imagination go again." Am I though? That was too vivid to just be a figment of my imagination. Ugh... what do I do?

"Hey, Shock-Leaf." A voice calls to us. It belongs to a Bidoof, a fellow rookie of the Guild, though he still has more experience than us. "Chatot told me to get you guys. Wanted me to show you the outlaw request board and get you started with hunting criminals."

"Already?" I question.

"Yup! Though you'll start off with petty thieves for the time being. None of the big guys."

"Well that's good at least. You're not throwing us to the Houndoom yet."

"Not until you have a bit more experience. Now let's head back and get started."

"This is the outlaw board." Bidoof starts, gesturing to a nearby notice board inside the Guild. "The sheriff's department sends us wanted posters of active criminals and we use them to decide who we're going after. Let's see... who would be a good one for some rookies..." As he looks them over, from out of nowhere, a voice shouts from... behind the board?

"Everyone stand back!" It yells. I place the voice. It's Diglett. The sentry. He's the one who normally is under the grate. Bidoof steps back from the board, gesturing for us to do the same. We do, and watch as the board swivels on a vertical axis, flipping itself backwards. The back of the sign had something written on it: "Update in progress."

"What in the world!?" I say, caught completely of guard.

"Don't worry." Bidoof assures me. "Diglett's just updating the outlaw board. He does this occasionally."

"Fair enough, but is flipping the board around really that necessary? It feels like an accident waiting to happen." A short while later, the board flips back around, revealing a fresh new set of posters. Without even thinking about it my eyes gloss over the new faces, bounties, and criminal records. That's when I see something that makes my blood run cold. "Pikachu... Look." I say, pointing to a specific poster. It's Drowzee. Drowzee is a wanted pokemon.

"What!? But... But..." Pikachu stammers struggling to understand the sight before him.

"'Wanted for theft, kidnapping and murder...' Azuril and Marill... They are in serious danger! We have to help them!"

"Right behind you, Alex!"

"Wait!" Bidoof calls to us. "Shouldn't we tell the other guild members first?"

"By the time they mobilize, it will be too late! We can't wait!" Pikachu and I don't stop, hurrying our way to Mt. Bristle. For the first time in our careers, lives hang in the balance. We cannot fail...

We found Marill near the base of the mountain. Apparently he got separated from the others. At least that means he's safe. But we still need to rescue Azurill. We continued up the mountain, fighting off attackers along the way. And boy am I glad Pikachu is an electric type. Because Doduos are everywhere here. I've been pecked at more times than I care to count. And without my friend's electric bolts, I wouldn't be breathing right now.

"There! Straight ahead!" I point to two figures in the distance. It looks almost exactly like that vision flash.

"Look," Drowzee warns the tiny pokemon. "it's not that hard. Go down in the hole, get any treasure you can carry, and come back. Now do as you're told!"

"Where's my brother?!" Azuril sobs. "I'm scared." Seems that they've been at this a bit, because Drowzee looks like hes out of patience.

"Listen, little guy, if you don't cooperate with me, things are going to end very badly for you." Drowzee threatens.

"Get away from me! Somebody help me!" So it was a vision of the future... I saw this before it happened... No time to dwell on that though. I have more pressing matters.

"STOP!" I scream at the top of my lungs. Both faces turn our way. A glimmer of hope flashes on Azuril's face, while Drowzee looks irritated.

"Guild members..." He grumbles. "Why don't you just mind your own business for a change!"

"Release the child. Now." I warn.

"Over my dead... wait... is he... cowering?"

"What?" To my side I see the very thing I didn't want to see. Pikachu is shrinking back, shaking in fear. "Oh no... not now... why now..." He says nothing in response. He just continues to shiver.

"Ha! Is this the best the Guild can throw at me? Two dumb rookies? They insult me. Still, no use letting you two get stronger and threaten me later on. This shouldn't take long..."

This is the worst case scenario. Pikachu is overcome with fear, and I'm alone facing a hardened killer. The best I can do is try to put up a fight before I die. Looks like that's what I'm going to do...


	8. Facing the Fear

From my enemy's fingertips, pink psybeams lash out at me. I barely dodge them, but I know that's just the beginning of his onslaught.

"Pikachu... Help... Please..." I beg my cowering partner. But he does nothing. I'm truly on my own. At the very least, I need to make sure Azuril escapes. At least then my death has a purpose. I charge at him on all fours, leaping aside to dodge another volley of psybeams. I bash him with my shoulder, to little effect.

"That all you got, Treeko?" He jeers as he punches me square in the face. Taking advantage of my dazed state, he hits me with a flurry of psybeams followed by confusion, a move that shuts down some of my senses and causes me to tumble about wildly without a sense of balance. "Alright, enough fooling around. time to put an end to this." Drowzee reach his hand out, wiggling his fingers. And in front of him grew a large orb of pink psychic energy. For whatever reason, I find it hard to tear my eyes away from the orb. But as a mysterious tiredness overcomes me, the reason becomes clear. He's using hypnosis.

I fight with all my strength. Fight to tear my gaze away from the orb and resist the urge to sleep. If he puts me to sleep, I'll be powerless to stop him. I can't let... let that... happen... no! no... must... stay... aw...awake...

 _Pikachu_

Pikachu watches in horror as his friend succumbs to Drowzee's spell, collapsing onto the ground. He wants to help. He wants to save him. But the fear... it's debilitating. It freezes up every muscle in his body and keeps him from even the most basic actions. And now it's going to get Alex killed.

"Huh. Didn't expect him to put up that much of a fight. Ah well. It all ends the same way. Sleep tight, little Treeko." Pink energies once again surge through his fingertips. He's going to deal out the killing blow!

"No... Please..." He mumbles desperately. He can't just let this happen! Alex needs him! He'll never be able to live with himself if he lets him die! "No." With every ounce of will in his body, he charges up his electricity, and discharges all of it in one, massive bolt. "NO!" He screams at the top of his lunges. The sheer power behind the attack throws Drowzee against the mountainside. "I will not let you hurt him!" The exertion may have drained him, but he's come this far. No use backing out now!

Drowzee stumbles back onto his feet, caught completely off guard by the Pikachu's actions. "What the... how did you-" Pikachu interrupts him by charging in and tackling him. This is followed by a series of punches and a swipe from his tail. Before long, Drowzee is laying defeated on the ground. Pikachu stares, amazed by his own strength of will. He just... he just overcame his fear? "This can't be real... How could I lose to a bunch of nobodies like you two?"

Pikachu, still dumbfounded, says nothing. He just continues to stare. "Stop looking at me like that!" Another sound grabs their attention. Alex appears to be waking.

 _Alex_

"Ugh..." I moan. "What just happened? I remember fighting Drowzee, then-" My eyes rest on a sight I did not expect. Pikachu was standing triumphantly of a defeated Drowzee. "Pikachu? You... You beat him?"

"I... I did, didn't I?"

"You overcame your fear! Incredible!"

"I... I did! I did it! I can't believe it!" Pikachu dashes over to me, engulfing me in a big bear hug. "I faced my fears! I never thought it was possible! And it's all thanks to you, Alex!"

"Me?"

"You're the one who kept pushing me forward when I needed it. "Without you, I'd be that cowardly mess you met on the beach."

"I may have helped, but it was you who broke the chains."

"Uhgh, shut up with the sappy crap. It's painful to listen to." Drowzee interrupts.

"Azuril! You're alive!" I hear Marill's voice cry from behind us. He is being followed by Chatot, Dugtrio, and a Croagunk, all three of them wearing Guild badges. Bidoof must have told them what we were planning to do.

"Marill!" Azuril cried out as he rushed into his big brother's arms. "I was so scared... I thought I was going to die! But they saved me!"

"Well..." I add. "It was mostly Pikachu."

"Either way, I can't thank you enough for what you did for us. We'll find some way to repay you."

"Don't worry too much about it. Just go on home. We'll handle Drowzee."

"Okay. And thanks again." The two brothers turn and leave, headed back to Treasure Town, leaving just the Guild members and Drowzee.

"So, You two somehow beat a notorious criminal this early in your careers?" Chatot says as he turns to us. "I must say, I'm impressed. And Alex, you mentioned that it was 'mostly him.' What did you mean by that?

"Thing is, he hit me with hypnosis. I couldn't do anything. But Pikachu ended up successfully defeating him." This seems to have caught Chatot by surprise.

"He did? Really? Well then, congratulations, Pikachu. You've exceeded my expectations. Seems you're stronger than you let on."

"T-thank you, sir." Pikachu replies, still a bit giddy from before.

"So how about we go back to the Guild?" Chatot says to us.

"Yeah. I could use a bite to eat after that." Pikachu responds. Plus there's that rather sizable bounty our capture of Drowzee gives us. Can't wait to see what we'll be able to do with that mother-load.

"Ten percent!?" I yell. "We only get ten percent!?"

"Running a guild isn't cheap, you know. This is where our money comes from, rewards from missions." Chatot answers. Turns out we're not getting a hold of that bounty anytime soon. Or the vast majority at least.

"You guys seriously need ninety percent of our earning to run the Guild? I'm pretty sure you could get by with seventy five. Ninety is just absurd!"

Chatot's feathers ruffle up as he goes into stern mode. "Enough! This is not open for discussion! These are the rules and if you wish to stay under our roof, you WILL abide by them. Do I make myself clear?" Ugh. He's right... It's their house, their rules.

"Alright... We'll take our ten percent." I say, begrudgingly taking the small bag of poke.

Almost Immediately, he goes back to normal. "Glad to see we agree. Now if you'll excuse me, I have matters to attend to." And with that, he hops off.

"Ten percent..." I mumble to myself.

"Well it's something at least." Pikachu comments. "Come on. Let's go get something to eat. I'm starving."

"Sounds good. Oh, and Pikachu, before I forget, thank you for saving my life."

"Don't mention it. You're my friend. Friends look out for each other."

Lightning cuts across the night sky as heavy rain pelts our room's window. It feels very similar to the storm I was in when I first washed onto the beach. Guess it's part of the same storm system.

"I swear, this thing just seemed to appear out of nowhere." Pikachu muses. "Just like the night before I met you."

"I was thinking that too. Strange." A brief moment of silence envelops us.

"Hey Alex, You ever hear about the legend of the time gears?"

"The what?"

"That would be a no then. Well, see, back when Arceus made this world and set Dialga and Palkia to maintain time and space, he created a massive tower, the Temporal Tower, for Dialga to live in and use to control time. But the tower alone is not enough to cover the whole planet. So Arceus created five gears of stone, infusing them with the essence of time itself, to spread Dialga's influence to the farthest reaches of the globe. Legend has it that all five are scattered across Sinnoh Minor atop stone alters. There they rest, guarded by powerful pokemon or hidden extremely well to keep them safe from those who would wish to take them."

"What brought this to mind?"

"It just popped into my head."

"What would happen if the gears were removed?"

"No one actually knows. But most think what would happen would be apocalyptic. Scares most pokemon away from looking."

"I would assume so." I yawn. "I think it's time to sleep. Goodnight, Pikachu."

"Goodnight, Alex."

 _?_

 _Frick! Where is he!? We must have gotten separated... Sigh. Guess I'm on my own. At least I know where to go. Those time gears are as good as mine._


	9. Uncharted Lands

Waking up the very next morning, we notice that the Guild feels a lot more tense and nervous than usual. Not really the best omen.

"What's going on here, Sunflora?" I ask a fellow Guild member. "The guild never felt this somber before..."

"You haven't heard?" she replies, genuinely surprised.

"We did just wake up so..."

Fair enough. Here. Read the headline article." She hands me a newspaper and I do as she requests. The headline reads "Treeshroud Forest Frozen In Time."

"What!?" Pikachu cries out. I share the same sentiment. I begin to read the article out loud.

"Early this morning, a group of pokemon walked into Treeshroud Forest, only to find it devoid of color or movement. 'I saw a dew droplet just sitting in mid air under a leaf.' one of the witnesses tells us. 'It was as if it was in the middle of falling off the leaf when it happened.' The Magnezone Police Department is currently running an investigation to find the source of it.. They advice everyone to stay out of Treeshroud Forest until the situation is resolved."

"I don't... Are these those time distortions?" My friend muses.

"I don't know... call it a hunch, but I thing something else is at play here." Plus the timing it kind of suspicious. This must have happened shortly after that spontaneous thunderstorm last night, a storm almost identical to the one that brought me ashore. Maybe there's a link between my lost memories and what is happening here.

"SHOCK-LEAF! CHATOT WANTS A WORD WITH YOU TWO!" The unmistakable voice of Loudred bellows out from the floor above us.

"Should that worry us?" I yell back.

"SEE FOR YOURSELF!"

"Guess we see what he wants. I can't imagine that we're in trouble, but with Chatot you never know." Pikachu says as he walks over to the ladder. I follow close behind, bracing myself for the worst.

"Ah! Team Shock-Leaf! Good to see you up and about." Chatot chirps cheerfully. That's a good sign at least. "So, I was thinking about your success yesterday and talking it over with Wigglytuff. And we both agreed that it's time to give you something more... exciting to do.

"You mean..." Pikachu starts, hopeful.

"Yup. Time to send you two out exploring Sinnoh Major."

"YES!" My friend cheers. I find myself chuckling as well. While I definitely don't mind helping out pokemon in need, it's not the reason we joined.

"I knew you'd like that. Hand me your wonder map for a second." I do so. He takes it and points to a place on it. The place is obscured by cloud, the map's way of saying it's unexplored. At least officially. "There should be a large mountain with a massive waterfall running down it. Rumor has it that there's a secret of some form hidden there. We need you two to investigate. Find whatever this secret may be and bring back something for us to study from it if possible."

"Yes sir! We won't let you down!" Pikachu exclaims with a swift nod. "Let's get our things together, Alex! No time to waste!" He heads back to our room, beckoning me to join. Here's hoping our adventure lives up to his expectations.

The sight of the mountain waterfall is breathtaking. the falls literally start at the peak of the mountain and fall all the way down to the base, kicking up a pretty substantial mist in the process. A stone path cuts through the middle of the river formed at the base that stops just short of the falls themselves. Glad it was there, because the river is made of some very rapid moving water. I don't care how good a swimmer you are, you fall in, you're going to be swept away into the ocean several miles downstream.

"I've never seen anything like it..." Pikachu utters in awe.

"It's an incredible sight, to be sure. Question is, where is this 'secret?'"

"I don't know. Maybe the waterfa-AH!" Pikachu had absentmindedly run his hand through the falling water. It appears the water is falling hard, because it almost looks like it tried to slap his hand away. "Frick... That hurts."

I run my own hand under it to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, it hurts. Like getting punched. "Woah!" I exclaim in both surprise and pain. "You weren't kidding." I stare at the falls, trying to ascertain what part it may play in our mission. "Is there a way up from the sides? Maybe what we're looking for is at the peak."

"I'll check." As he goes to see if we can scale the mountain I notice that my vision is blurring. Wait... Again? Another vision flash? I go through the whole routine, blurry vision, dizziness, pain in my skull, then flash of white.

In my vision I see the waterfall, and a silhouette of a pokemon. Round in shape, with long ears. I can't make out which pokemon, though. He's facing the waterfall, maybe trying to figure out where this secret is as well. He takes several steps back. Wait... is he... he is! he's making a running jump through the falls! He's crazy! My vision changes to show what's on the other side of the falls, a cave network. A mystery dungeon cave network. This is it! This is what we're looking for!

I flash back to reality just as Pikachu has turned his attention back to me.

"No, doesn't look like we can climb the mountain by hand. Are you okay? you seem out of it."

"I had another vision flash. I saw another pokemon find the secret."

"You did!? Where is it!?"

"There's an entrance to a mystery dungeon on the other side of the waterfall. he made a running jump through it."

" _Through_ it?! Alex, If we do that, we'll drown!"

"There's no other way in. If we're fast enough, we'll make it."

"I don't know about this..."

"Pikachu, Please. Just trust me. My vision flashes haven't led us astray before. I doubt they will this time either." Pikachu stops and thinks.

"Okay. I'm trusting you." He takes a deep breath and backs up, getting down on all fours and readying himself for the sprint. "Could you count it down?"

"Sure" I reply as I start to do the same thing myself. "On three, ready?" He nods. "Ok. One... Two... Three!" On three we dash forward as fast as our legs can take us, leaping into the falls. The water hits us hard, battering us for the brief moment we're exposed to it. But once we're through, we see what we were hoping to see. a cave entrance. We touch down, tumbling a little upon landing.

"Ow... that was not pleasant..." My partner moans as he rights himself. He remains silent for a moment, soaking in the sights. "Alex... You were right! The secret! We found it!"

"It seems so. Though I bet the true secret is at the end of the dungeon."

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go find it!"


	10. Discovery

"Watch it! There's one behind you!" Pikachu calls to me. Sure enough, a Surskit had flanked me. Thanks to his warning, I am able to evade the oncoming strike. Pikachu uses quick attack to dash right up to my attacker in a flash of electric light and knock him out.

"Thanks." I reply. It's become clear that our encounter with Drowzee has boosted Pikachu's confidence dramatically. He's actively fighting now, a very welcome change.

"No problem. How far are we, do you think?"

"Not much farther, I'm willing to bet. The mountain's only so big."

"What if the dungeon made it bigger on the inside?"

"Wait, they can do that?"

"Don't know. but I wouldn't dismiss it."

"Huh..." The tunnel begins to widen. Looks like we're drawing close to our destination. And sure enough, we have. The sight was something completely unexpected. Our cave apparently leads into a much bigger tunnel, stretching to the left and right way past our field of view. Every surface of the cavern was covered in colorful gems, shimmering with a sort of internal light. This bathed the cavern in the many colors of the gemstones. And right in front of us was a massive red gem standing as tall as us.

"Holy crap... This is amazing!" I say to no one in particular.

"This is such a find! Quick! Grab a gem to take back!"

"Right. Almost forgot. Should I try for the big one?"

"Sure, if you'd like. Not sure we could carry it all the way back..."

"I just want to see if we can move it." I walk up to the crystal. The light shimmers and pulses, almost like it's taunting me, daring me to take it. I grab onto it. "Here goes nothing!" I tug with all my strength. But it doesn't move a single inch. I keep going, wrestling it back and forth trying to dislodge it to no avail. I let go, panting slightly from exertion. "No good. It won't budge."

"Here. Let me try." I step aside as Pikachu makes his attempt. Wait... Oh not another one... Another vision flash...

Once again my vision flashes white and I see the cave we are in. It appears that the silhouetted pokemon is here too. I watch intently as it also tries to move the big gem. When pulling seems to fail, He turns to pushing. And he actually makes some progress. The gem shifts slightly. But there's an audible click as it does. Is it some sort of mechanism? Who built it? And why?

Suddenly the cavern rumbles. and from outside my peripheral vision, a deluge of water roars through the cavern, washing the unfortunate silhouette away to who knows where.

The flash ends and I'm back to reality. And what I see horrifies me. Pikachu has also resorted to pushing the crystal. He's going to get us killed!

"Pikachu! Wait! Don't-" I try to warn him, but it's too late. I hear the click of the mechanism. We're about to be washed away... "Oh frick..."

"Alex?! What's wrong!?"

"Another vision flash. The gem was booby trapped. We need to leave. Now." As I say this the cavern rumbles. The tsunami is coming. "Run!" I yell. We both take off at full sprint for the exit, only for our hopes to be smashed as we find the exit blocked off by a crystal. We're trapped.

"What do we do?!"

"Brace for impact and pray." Was all I could come up with. I take a deep breath, knowing I will need it. Pikachu does the same. Then we wait. We don't need to wait too long, though. In mere seconds the roaring deluge swallows us whole, taking us along for the ride.

I'm getting unpleasant flashbacks to the storm that washed me ashore. Meanwhile the tunnel we're carried through swerves every which way, though seems to be headed in a general direction, up. Then, suddenly, light. The torrent has shot us out of the top of the mountain! How it managed to do that, I couldn't begin to understand. But, regardless, that's what's happening.

We continue our flight for a surprisingly long time before gravity takes hold, starting our decent. As we tumble downward, I try to ascertain my bearings, to no avail. I was being tossed around far too much to be able to tell where I was.

A sudden impact on my back startles me, opening my eyes, I finally see what is happening. The torrent had thrown us into the sky and dropped us into a large, smooth halfpipe structure on the back of the mountain. Combined with the water it was almost like a waterslide. With no other option, we are forced to ride it out.

Eventually, we approach what appears to be a small lake at the end of the slide. With a large splash, we are thrown into the lake. Quickly, I swim to the surface, trying to figure out where the frick we are. It isn't long before Pikachu surfaces as well.

"What in Arceus' name just happened?!" He yells.

"I think that was a fancy way of telling us to 'get out.'"

"Seems to be... What an adrenaline rush. Where are we?"

"Give me a second and I'll check." I say as I swim to shore with our team bag. Thank goodness it's waterproof. I pull out the Wonder Map and take a look. "half a mile northeast of the waterfall cave. Goodness, we covered some distance..."

"What an adventure for our first real mission! Shame we didn't get something to bring back."

"Yeah. I suppose we just have to hope Chatot is lenient with us."

"You found what?! That's unbelievable!" Chatot cries out in excitement. "What an amazing discovery!"

"Unfortunately, we didn't get anything for study. A little too preoccupied. Sorry about that." I say, slightly saddened. "But if you need confirmation, by all means, send another team. Have them confirm our findings.

"That's okay, friend!" Wigglytuff cheers in his still very unsettling voice. "Because we know you're telling the truth."

"You do?" Pikachu asks.

"We do." Chatot answers. "Because that was a test. and you passed. Mostly. Would have preferred you two manage to bring something back." Wait... a test?

"So you knew about this?" I ask.

"Yup. Wigglytuff discovered it a few years ago." Wait a minute... those vision flashes... yeah... the silhouette looked like Wigglytuff! So... Not only can I peer into the future, but the past as well? "Ever since then we've sent newcomers there to see if they could figure it out. Most don't even get past the waterfall. So know that I am very impressed."

"Thank you."

"You two better rest up! You look like you need it." Wigglytuff adds.

"No arguments there. Guess we'll see you tomorrow." Or when I wake up to see you standing over me with a knife in hand. I swear you're just waiting for the moment to jump me, Wigglytuff.

"Pikachu, I've been wondering..." I tell my friend as we hunker down for the night.

"About what?" He inquires.

"Those vision flashes. There's got to be a pattern to them. The can't be just random, can they?"

"Well... Um... Let's see here... The first you had after handing Azuril the apple, then after Drowzee bumped you... Then when you touched the waterfall..."

"And then the gem... Wait... My hand brushed up against Azuril's when handing the apple over... Touch. It's triggered by touch. It's got to be."

"So, you touch something and you have a chance to see something from the past or future?"

"That's what it looks like."

"That's awesome, Alex! I never thought anyone could do that!

"Me neither. I wonder... Could I learn to control it?"

"you could try... But who knows when the next one will happen."

"That would be a problem."

Pikachu yawns. "No use worrying tonight. Let's get some rest."

"Sound's good. See you in the morning."


	11. Old Foes

"So," I ask my friend as we scan over the request board. "See one you like?"

"I'm torn between the Tiny Woods rescue mission and the Beach Cave escort. Not much else available to us."

"There are so few places we can actually go without being beaten within an inch of our lives..."

"I know... It really sucks. I wan't to see more of the world. Guess we'll just have to train up. Nothing else for it."

"Seems to be the case."

"ATTENTION ALL GUILD MEMBERS REPORT TO THE MEETING FLOOR IMMEDIATELY! WE HAVE A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!" I hear Loudred's voice bellow out, causing the floor to vibrate slightly. Sometimes I worry he's going to make this whole cliff face collapse...

"Guess our mission will have to wait. Let's go see what they want." I say.

"Agreed. Let's hurry."

The meeting floor is packed as everyone in the guild has showed up and up front was, of course, Wigglytuff and Chatot. And Wigglytuff looks surprisingly awake this time around. The entire room is filled with murmurs and conversation as everyone tries to predict what this announcement is.

"Ahem." Chatot begins, quieting the crowd. "Glad to see you all could make it. Now, some of you may have heard about the recent incident at Fogbound Lake last week. Where someone came back with missing memory." Wait! Hold on! Missing memory? Like... Like me? Is that what happened? Something there wiped my mind and tossed me out to sea? This could be the missing link to my past I've been looking for! Turning to Pikachu I see he has something similar in mind.

Chatot continues, unaware of my excited state. "Yesterday, a few Pokemon approached us, asking for the guild to investigate, giving us the necessary funding to do so. As such, We are preparing an expedition to Fogbound Lake in two weeks. Not everyone can come, as we need pokemon here to watch over the guild. So, we will be choosing those who will come based on performance. So do your best. And DO NOT sabotage each other! First wind of fowl play and your team will be suspended from exploration for a month! I'm looking at you, Team AWD!" Chatot glares at an Arbok, Weavile, and Drapion, of whom look quite displeased. I'm not too worried about them, as it seems they're being watched quite closely. "Now, does everyone understand?"

"Yes, Chatot, sir." Came the universal echo from the whole crowd, ourselves included. I knew Pikachu and I had to prove ourselves if we were to join them. And seeing how this may shed light on my past, I was going to give it my all.

"That's good. Now, A couple of the funding pokemon said they wished to join us. And we agreed. So, for the short while they are here, please welcome Team Skull." Coming down the ladder was three pokemon. Two of them Pikachu and I have had the misfortune of meeting. Zubat and Koffing. The thieves. The third was a Skuntank, strutting along like he owned the place.

My jaw drops. How did those two convince Chatot to let them join!? Then again, perhaps they went through Wigglytuff... That pink furball would trust anyone. The question that particularly bugs me is "Why?" Why accompany the guild on this mission?

"Yeah. Thanks for the intro, Chatot. We can handle it from here." Skuntank spoke in a commanding, gruff, and somewhat arrogant voice. He turns to face the crowd. "So, like he said, we're Team Skull. I'm Skuntank. This is Zubat and Koffing, my friends. I hope you will accept us with open arms." He subtly glances in our direction. It seems he's aware of our encounter with his allies. That doesn't bode well...

"Oh, we will." Chatot chirps cheerfully. "Ok everyone! Meeting adjourned! Go back to what you were doing." Slowly, the meeting floor empties until Pikachu and I are left with Skull.

"Alright, you three." I growl, approaching them. "What's the big idea, here? Why're you working with the guild?"

"Out of the kindness of our hearts, Alex." Skuntank replies with an air of mock innocence. I'm taken aback slightly that he knows my name, but then again, his goons could have told him.

"Tauros-crap. You have an ulterior motive. You're not fooling me."

"What happened to being welcomed with open arms? You're not being very gracious." With that, my temper flares.

"Listen to me and listen close. I don't know what you're doing here or what you want. But if you want to live the rest of your life without broken bones, you will not do anything to harm the guild."

"Or what? Is your buddy going to cry us to death?" He did not just do that! He did not just mock my friend! Without thinking, I attempt to tackle him, only for his tail to open up and spray me with a mist of putrid smelling gas. I am left coughing and gasping for breath as the cloud dissipates. Jeez... That's a heck of a deterrent!

"Your turn to listen, runt. Frankly, I could care less of what you think of us. But if you know what is good for you, stay away. Because I know some friends who could drum up some fairly convincing evidence of sabotage to other teams. You wouldn't want to be suspended, now, would you?" ...frick. He's got us cornered. We can't inform anyone about this. For the time being, we have to oblige.

"...fine..." I mutter. "We'll... stay away..."

"That's better. Now, Zubat, Koffing, let's go find the cafeteria. I'm starving." With that, the three outlaws leave.

"I can't believe they got in..." Pikachu says, confused. "And how are they funding that expedition?"

"Stolen money. How else." I sigh. "we may not be able to directly interfere with their plans, but we can at lest keep an eye on them."

"Hopefully they just do what they want and leave... We should get back to finding a mission. Should help distract us for a bit."

 _That night..._

 _Ugh... I'm still hungry..._

 _Really? But boss, you ate three whole bowls of stir fry and an entire cheesecake._

 _Wasn't enough. I say we go raid the pantry for a midnight snack._

 _...I suppose it couldn't hurt._


	12. Sabotage

"Holy crap!" Someone exclaims from the cafeteria. "What happened here!?" Pikachu and I rush to the scene, and the reason for the exclamation is immediately apparent. The food pantry is wide open and foodstuffs are scattered everywhere.

"What on Pokemar..." Pikachu mumbles. "When did this happen?"

"Had to have been last night." Chimecho answered. "I checked. everything was in perfect order before we all tucked in."

"Well, now, looks like someone raided the pantry. What a mess." Skuntank chuckled. Wait, we never even mentioned the idea of someone raiding it. something tells me I know who did it... But we can't tell anyone without facing serious consequences. For the time being, we have to keep our mouths shut.

Chatot soon joins the crowd, and immediately gets flustered. "The perfect apples! They're gone! Oh no... What am I going to tell the Guildmaster?"

"What's wrong?" I ask. "What's so important about those apples?"

"They're the Guildmaster's favorite snack. He absolutely loves them. If he doesn't get them... he... he..."

"He... does what?" I inquire. Chatot is clearly frightened by the prospect of whatever he'll do.

"You know how hatchlings sometimes throw massive tantrums? Well we're talking that at a magnitude of ten. And it gets destructive."

"There's got to be a place to get more, right?" Pikachu asks.

"There is, actually. There's a tree in Apple Woods that bears them."

"Then how about we go get them for you? It's not like we have anything better to do." We stay silent as Chatot considers our proposal.

"Alright, you two." He replies after what feels like forever. "Go ahead. But remember, this mission is of the utmost importance. Please treat it as such." Utmost importance? Sounds exaggerated, but I'm not about to argue with him.

"Right." I answer. "Let's go pack up, Pikachu. No use wasting time."

Apple Woods. Where apparently every freaking tree in the entire forest is an apple tree. According to Pikachu, perfect apples have an unmistakable shine to them. Hopefully that makes them easier to spot, because otherwise we're hunting for a needle in a haystack. And even then...

"We must be getting close." I comment. "We've been out here for three hours already."

"I know. I hope we are as well." My friend agree. "Wait! Up ahead! Look!" He points ahead to a large tree ahead of us. And sure enough, shiny apples. We found them.

"Dang... That's quite the tree. How are we going to get them down?"

"You're a Treeko. You should be a natural at climbing."

"I can try." I walk up to the tree, hyping myself up for the climb. As a Treeko, my hands and feet should be able to stick to surfaces. Trouble is, I don't exactly know how. No time like the present to try. I leap up, slamming the tree with my palms. And it works... for a split second. I feel some force briefly try to hold me in place as I fall back down. I try again, to the same results. After about seven tries, I give up.

"Crap..." I mutter. "There's got to be an easier way."

"There is." A familiar voice calls from behind us. It's Skuntank and his cronies. "What? Don't look at me like that. We're just helping our friends out." Sure, because friends would rob you for your worldly possessions.

"What do you want." I respond curtly.

"To help you. Now, stand back and we'll show you how it's done." I hesitate, not sure if I'd be playing right into their hands. But... We do need those perfect apples... I make my decision and step aside. "See? That wasn't so hard. Now, watch and learn." Skuntank backs up, readying himself for a sprint. He then dashes forward into the tree, smashing his head against it.

The impact shakes the tree, causing some of the apples to fall from it. "That's all you need to do. Works every time. Go ahead. Take them." Zubat says as they move towards the largest group of apples. They seriously think we wouldn't notice that? I know for a fact now that this is a trap.

"Why?" Pikachu asks, also suspicious. "So we can just walk right into your claws and wake up Arceus knows where? No. Not going to happen."

Skuntank frowns. "Smarter than you look. Doesn't change the fact that you're not going to succeed. Koffing... ready the noxious gas combo." Skuntank get into a combat position, as does Koffing.

"Sleep tight, Shock-Leaf." Koffing chuckles. Before we have a chance to react, Both of them unleash a blast of fowl gasses upon us in a massive cloud. The smell is punctuated with a numbing sensation as my body collapses. Moments later I lose consciousness.

"Ugh..." I moan as I start to awaken. How long was I out?

"Alex?" The groggy voice of Pikachu rings out. "What just happened?"

"I think Skull used some sort of knockout gas." Slowly I bring myself back to my feet, turning my gaze to the perfect apple tree. Much to my surprise, it was bare. Not a single fruit dangled from it's branches. I look around at the base of the tree, still no apples. "Pikachu, what happened to the apples?"

"Why are you asking me? I don't know."

"They're gone. All of them. They couldn't have jus-" Then it dawned on me. "Skull... They took them!"

"What?! Why would they do that?"

"To screw us over, probably. Frick, Chatot's going to have our heads for this..."

"There's got to be more trees with perfect apples, right? There wouldn't be just one in the entire forest."

"Good point. We should hurry. It's already past midday."

Nothing. Not a single tree. We searched for three whole hours and came up with nothing. We were out of time. We had to return empty handed. And now Chatot was freaking out.

"How! How could you two come back with nothing!?" As much as I wanted to rat out Team Skull, they still had us in that choke hold. We had no choice but to sound incompetent.

"The tree was bare. There were no apples on it." I replied, head lowered shamefully.

"Bare!? Not possible! That tree has always held fruit! Without exception! I can't believe this..."

"We're very sorry for-"

"Sorry isn't going to prevent Wigglytuff from freaking out! I entrusted you two with this vital mission, and you failed! I thought you were better than this! Let me say this, you may as well give up all hope for going on that expedition!" While I knew that would probably be the case, the words still stung like a Skorupi. This was my chance to find out what happen to me and why I was washed ashore... But now... "You know what? You two are coming with me. I'm going to show you the consequences of your failure." With that, he directs us to Wigglytuff's room, where he's sitting at his desk with that same, never-changing smile on his face.

"Good evening, Chatot! Did you bring the snacks?" He cheers. Chatot went immediately from angery to afraid.

"Good evening, sir. and... Uh... see... Shock-Leaf was sent out to get more perfect apples this morning... and... w-well..." He pauses, cloaking the room in an uncomfortable silence. "They failed. They didn't bring back any."

A tense moment follows as we await his reply...

"...That's okay! Mistakes happen! Be sure to do better next time!" Wait... Are we off the hook!? "Now, let's have some apples!" ...Oh...

"Sir... You don't seem to understand. We... we don't have... and more perfect apples. They're all gone..." And just like that, the ever smiling Wigglytuff's smile fades.

"...Gone?"

"Yes... We don't have any more." His expression changes again, to that of a child about to cry. Without warning, the floor rumbles and the air in the room begins to heat up. What is this!?

"...no...more...apples?" The rumbling grows in intensity, and below him I begin to see what looks like micro-fissures of... is that magma!? What power does this Pokemon wield!? I immediately become fearful of our well being.

Then the dam breaks. Wigglytuff bawls like a child, causing the fissures to open further. An instinctual fear takes hold as I make an effort to get as much distance between me and the magma.

Then... A knock on the door. And everything ends. The magma recedes, Wigglytuff's smile returns, and all evidence of the fissures vanishes. If I wasn't frightened of Wigglytuff before, I sure as heck am now.

"Come in!" He yells cheerfully. The door opens, and in comes Team Skull, the people I least want to see right now.

"Hello, Guildmaster." Zubat says. "We brought something for you." And from their bag they pull... a perfect apple. One that they stole from us.

"Yum! My favorite!" Wigglytuff quickly jogs over to them and begins eating the apple. "Thank you!" I feel a fury build inside me. They have the nerve to do this to us!? Those cocky, arrogant, sons of...

"That... was too close..." Chatot sighs in relief. "Thank you, Skull. Perhaps Wigglytuff was right about you."

"Our pleasure, sir" Shuntank replies, giving me and Pikachu a snarky sideways glance. That it... I need to get out of here before I bash someone's face in. I make my way to the door and leave the room.

"Come on, Pikachu. Let's go." I growl.

"Aren't you two going to have supper?" Koffing asks in a subtly mocking tone.

"I've lost my appetite."


	13. Chance for Redemption

I didn't get much sleep last night. I could just picture that smug Skuntank rolling on the floor, dying of laughter over what had happened. It made me furious. It made me want to punch something.

Needless to say, I was quite tired the next day. And Pikachu was the first to notice.

"You're taking this pretty hard, Alex." He tells me.

"This expedition might have been the key to my missing memory. And now I'll never get to see it." I growl.

"There's got to be a way to get back into favor with Chatot..."

"Is there? He was pretty livid with us. I think we've been put on his 'Watch with Braviary eyes' list."

"Come on, be a bit more positive. We just need to keep an ear to the crowd. There's bound to be an opportunity." Pikachu's optimism is quite refreshing. It's nice to hear reassurance in the worst of situations.

"You're right. Let's go see what we can find."

We wandered about Treasure Town for a good while, listening and asking around. Especially around Spinda's Cafe, a relatively new place that's already gained a strong reputation. People seem to enjoy the service and frequent the establishment, making it a hot spot for conversation. If we're going to find an opportunity to redeem ourselves in Chatot's eyes, this is where we're going to find it.

An hour or so later, we seem to get our chance. I spot a few pokemon with worried expressions discussing something. There's a good chance someone is in need of help.

"Is there a problem?" I ask as I approach them?

"No problem." A Wynaut replies. "Well, for us anyways. We were just talking about a guild member that went missing."

"Missing?! How have we not heard about this?!"

"They have only been gone about five hours. but since their trip was supposed to take three people have started to worry."

"Where were they last seen?" Pikachu asks.

"I think it was near Oran Forest."

"I think we should investigate. They could be in danger." Absolutely. And this could shape up to be good for us in regards to the expedition.

"Good to see guild members looking out for one another. The missing pokemon's name is Corphish. I hope you find him." Corphish... A well known and trusted guild member. I've talked with him once or twice. Great guy. I hope he's not in too much danger.

The Oran Forest reminds me a bit too much of Apple Woods. Instead of apples, the trees bore oran berries. I just wish I wasn't reminded of the incident from yesterday. Oh well...

"Alex, look up ahead." Pikachu tells me. Ahead the ground was surprisingly wet and muddy. Mud particles stuck to the sides of the trees, as if they were thrown from a powerful blast of water. Knowing that Corphish is a water type, it's a good sign we're on the right track. I also notice that a few of the trees have claw marks in them and the mud is littered with footprints.

"I think we know what happened to him. He was attacked."

"Yeah... but by whom?"

"I can see a trail of footprints leaving the scene. And it looks like they were dragging something behind them. That's probably our best chance of finding him."

"Well then, let's not waste time."

The trail wasn't too long. Soon, we come across a makeshift cage made of wooden sticks and rope hidden in a bush. Getting closer I can see the shape of a pokemon inside, Corphish. I wonder who put him in there. I can think of a few suspects...

"Corphish." I call to him. "We're from the guild. We're here to get you out."

Corphish turns around, breaking into a smile. "I knew ya guys wouldn't abandon me. But... How are ya going to get me out?"

"I'm sure Alex's new move will handle that." Pikachu answers, nodding to me. I nod back, holding my hands in front of me like I'm holding a stick. Then, as I move my hands apart, a green, leaflike, glowing sword emerges from between my hands. A Leaf Blade. This was my first time actually trying it, and I have to fight to keep myself from giggling like a fool.

"OK, this is pretty freaking awesome." I say under my breath. "Now, This should have no problem cutting open this cage." I ready myself to cut the knots holding the cage together. But just as I'm about to swing...

"Alex! Behind you!" Pikachu cries out. I'm not quick enough to react and get punched in the face by a Weavile. Not just any Weavile, though. The Weavile from Team AWD. It appears they didn't heed Chatot's warning after all.

"Huh. It was the newcomers that found me? Must be getting soft." He mutters.

I get back up from my hit. "You're actually doing this? Even after what Chatot said?"

"That's none of your business, Alex. Now I've got to make sure you two don't squeal on us." Baring his claws, he rushes me. But I'm ready this time. I bring by leaf blade to bare on him, using it to block his first few strikes. Unfortunately, he's hitting far too fast for me to keep up and he lands a few strikes before Pikachu comes to my aid, shocking the attacker.

"So it's going to be like this, huh? Okay. I'll play along." I say as I go in and strike with my blade. The first swing is easily dodged by my target. The second one manages to nick him. The third is blocked by his claws.

"A bit clumsy with that, are we?" Weavile hits me with Ice Punch, Causing a small collection of ice crystals to form on my chest. He doesn't get to follow up with it, as Pikachu is quick to jump in once again, using Electro Ball to knock him over. I am quick to take advantage, putting him at bladepoint.

"You really shouldn't have done this, Weavile. Chatot's going to be very displeased."

"I should have known, Weavile." Chatot angrily growls. "You've done this every time. Every expedition. Yet you never learn." Weavile says nothing, arms crossed and furious. "Well, once again, you're about to face punishment for your actions! You are barred from any and all guild activities for a month! I hope you're proud of yourself!"

Weavile simply grunts and walks away.

"I think I'm going to put an extra lock on our door for the next few nights..." I comment. "Rather I not end up in a cage myself."

"That's you two." Corphish says to us. "I owe ya one."

"You're welcome. Happy to help." Pikachu answers.

"And..." Chatot adds. "I think I owe you an apology for last night. I let my temper go a bit too much."

"Well considering what you were afraid of I can't exactly blame you. But thanks." I reply.

"As for your chances for the expedition... well... I wouldn't say it's out of the question yet." And just like that, my day has been brightened significantly.

"Thank you, sir."

"I wish you luck out there, Shock-Leaf."


	14. The Expedition

Over the next two weeks we continued to try and prove ourselves. And we kept a watchful eye on Team Skull. We're not letting them ruin our chances again. So far everything is looking good. I think we may have it. And today is finally the day.

Approaching the meeting floor I feel extremely nervous. Did we make enough of an impression? Will this trip actually reveal something about my past?

"You nervous too, Alex?" My partner asks.

"Yeah... There's a lot on the line for me. If there's even a sliver of a chance that I will get my memories back from this, I don't want the chance taken from me."

"I understand. Hopefully Ho-Oh looks fondly upon us." With that, we arrive at the meeting floor. Chatot and Wigglytuff are at the front, readying themselves to speak. We take our place in the crowd, waiting for the announcement.

"Alright, everybody!" Chatot calls out a few minutes later. " Now, as you all know, today we begin our expedition to Fogbound Lake. And that some will need to stay behind. It's just out of necessity. So, I've got the names of the teams and guild members who will stay behind to keep watch over the guild." He pulls out a sheet of paper. "Let's not waste any time. Those staying behind are..." Immediately my heart goes into overdrive. This is it, the moment of truth. "Team AWD, Team Slacker, Team Poochy, and..." I clench my eyes shut, extremely tense. Please don't say Shock-Leaf... Please don't say Shock-Leaf...

"...Team Ebony." Instantly all my tension drains. We did it. We're going to Fogbound Lake! The meeting floor erupts into a flurry of conversation. Some happy that they're able to go, some bitter about being left behind. Team Skull looked surprised. They probably expected us to be on that list. But they can't account for everything. Best not to rub it in their face, though. I get the feeling that will end badly for us.

"We did it, Alex!" Pikachu cheers, grabbing me in a hug.

"We did. That was too close."

"Alright everyone, settle down!" Chatot crows, calling for silence.

"We're going out at noon." Wigglytuff announces. "So make sure you're all packed and ready by then, my friends!"

"Alright. You're all dismissed!" Chatot finishes. Everyone heads for the exits, going to their dorms to pack.

"What do you think we should pack, Pikachu?" I ask as we enter our room.

"Plenty of food, for sure. it's going to be a long trip. I'm thinking some firewood, food, water, an orb or two in case we run into some trouble... What else?"

"Our usual gear as well. The Wonder Map and all that."

"Sound's good! Oh man... I haven't felt this giddy since we first joined the guild!"

"I know exactly what you mean. When we get back, we'll have quite the story to tell."

"I'll bet you will." Skuntank's voice interrupts as we exit our room's door. "I admit, I'm impressed by how you pulled it off, being able to join the expedition. Though I suggest you stay out of our way." I say nothing, not wanting to grace him with a response. "Hard of hearing, are we, well don't say we didn't warn you..." With that, they leave.

"Ugh... I hate those guys..." Pikachu mumbles.

"Tell me about it... I can't help but think they're going to be a problem..."

With everything packed, we were given our instructions. Fogbound Lake is located east of the guild, past Mt. Horn. The passages are narrow, so we split into teams of three to prevent us from clogging everything up. Pikachu and I are paired with Bidoof. Now, Bidoof is a nice Pokemon and all... but he's not the most... coordinated. On multiple occasions we've had to take extra precautions to keep him from tumbling down the mountain. This, in turn, has put us behind the rest of the guild. I just hope they don't plan on doing the exploration without us...

"Alright... we're clear of the mountain. Should be smooth surfing from here on out." Pikachu informs us, relaying information from the Wonder Map. The sun has already begun to set on the third day of the expedition, so hopefully it isn't too far now.

"Ah! Look! There's light in the distance!" Bidoof calls out. Sure enough, I could see the glow of fire from behind the trees. A campfire.

"Awesome! That has to be them!" Pikachu exclaims. "let's hurry!" We pick up the pace, reaching the forested area. Before long, the campsite in in view, the firelight illuminating the tents and guild members on watch duty. And beyond the camp was Fogbound Lake. And like so many other mystery dungeons, it earns it's name. The entire area was enveloped in a thick cloud of fog making it extremely difficult to see through.

And there's another thing... It feels... familiar. Like I've been here before. I'm convinced now more than ever that this is where my memories went. And one way or another, I was going to find them.

"There you three are!" Chatot yelled to us with his trademark flustered/angry look. "You're late!"

"Sorry..." I reply. "Just was being sure no one tumbled to their doom on the mountain."

"...Fine. You'd best get some rest. Tomorrow we reach the lake and I need you all to be at your best."

"Yes sir." Pikachu replies.

"Alright. Your tents are over there. I'll see you all in the morning."

"Sleep well, Chatot." I reply. Shortly after, I turn to my friend. "Here's hoping I _can_ sleep. Not always easy when on the edge of the unexplored."

"Same." Pikachu yawns. "Though all that traveling we did probably will help. May as well get situated now."

"Couldn't agree more." Tomorrow is a big day. I'm finally going to get answers about my past! There are just so many questions I need answered. Why was I washed ashore? Do I have a family that's worried about me? How did I become a Treeko? And why does it feel so... natural to me? No use pondering it now. I'll deal with it when the time comes. for now, I curl up in my straw bed alongside Pikachu, Bidoof, and several other guild members. We could only bring so many tents, so we have to group together. At least I'm not with the poor guys in Loudred's tent. I can't imagine how loudly he snores.

Slowly, my thoughts blur and fade, replaced with the familiar sense of sleep as I drift away.


	15. Fogbound Lake

Well, as it turns out, Loudred's snore could be heard by the entire camp. Quite easily. Had Sunflora not thought to bring sleep seeds, we'd probably be up all night. Thank goodness for that.

One by one, we slowly awaken from slumber, readying ourselves for the journey that lies ahead. After breakfast, we try to brainstorm a way to search the area without getting lost in the fog. In the end, we decide on a plan of attack. once again, we'll break up into groups. Each group will systematically search a designated area, using the ash and charred wood of the campfire as breadcrumbs.

With a plan in place, we set off. This time, Pikachu and I are teamed with Corphish, so I'm not as nervous about our ally being a klutz.

The fog that this lake is named after is thick and heavy. I can only see a couple feet in front of me at any given time. This makes our breadcrumb trail more vital than ever. And while the wonder map helps somewhat, we're still flying blind. Another thing, for a place called Fogbound Lake, there's a strange absence of a lake. Rather it's more creeks and wetland. Strange.

About 15 minutes in, I spot something. Off in the distance I can make out an orange glow piercing through the wall of fog.

"Hey guys." A announce to my team, pointing to the light. "Can you see that over there?"

"Yeah..." Pikachu replies. "What is that? It looks like a fire..."

"Only one way to find out." We draw closer, eager to see what we've found. As it turns out, the glow is coming from a bright red and orange gemstone, pulsing with that fiery glow.

"Do either of you know what this is?" I ask.

"It looks like a firestone." Pikachu replies, picking it up and studying it intently. "Strange. I thought these only formed in magma pools... What's one doing all the way out here?"

"Perhaps someone lost it." Corphish suggests. "Take it with. We can try and find the owner when we get back.."

"Good idea." Pikachu swiftly puts the stone in his satchel bag. I note that I can still see the glow through the fabric. "Let's keep moving. I get the feeling that there's something else here.

We continue out search for another two hours. We still have plenty of ground to cover, so I'm still confident we'll find something. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Pikachu, who was leading the search, stops suddenly. Looking up at something.

"What is it, Pikachu?" I ask, walking up right next to him. Then it becomes clear. It was hidden in the fog before, but now that we're close up, we can clearly see it. It's a large statue standing at 11 feet tall and depicting a ferocious dinosaur-like creature.

"What is this?" I ask.

"Groudon. The Continent Pokemon. During the Stages of Creation, he and his sibling Kyogre, created the land and the sea respectively. Though they tended to fight, with civilization-ending results. Which Rayquaza usually ended before life was wiped out entirely. "

"Interesting... So why is there a statue of him out here?"

"Perhaps this will help." Pikachu stares ad engraved text at the base of the statue. "It's written in ancient Pokensa. I might be able to translate it..."

"You can read Pokensa?" Corphish inquires, skeptical.

"I've done a lot of research into things like this in my free time, way before I ever joined the Guild." Pikachu turns his attention back to the writing, taking time to look it over. "I think it says 'I am Groudon, Lord of the Land. My heard burns hot as the sun, forged in the fires of the planet's core.'"

"Ok." I interject. "So this is just some sort of... vanity monument?"

"No... It's a riddle... It's written using a lyrical format."

"Why put a riddle on a stone statue?" Corphish ponders. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Wait a minute..." I mutter, noticing something. The statue has a faint teal glow to it. Looking at it, I feel a strange sensation. One that feels very similar to my vision flashes. "Why is it glowing?"

"Um... Alex?" Pikachu responds, slightly concerned. "It's not glowing."

"You don't see that?"

"No... I can't. What's going on, Alex?" I say nothing. Believing this could be a key part to my past, I reach out and touch the statue. And in an instant, the sensations of a vision flash hit me. This time around I hear a voice speak as if it's talking to me.

 _"You got it, Alex! The firestone is the key!"_ And then it stops. I am brought back to reality. The glow has faded away and my teammates look at me with confused looks.

"Alex?" Pikachu asks, slightly worried.

"Hand me the firestone for a second." I respond. After a confused second, he does. The stone is warm to the touch. I hold it up against the statue. And right where the heart would be, there's an indentation. An indentation the exact size and shape as the fire stone.

"'Forged in the fires of the planet's core...' Firestones form in magma... The statue's heart is the firestone!"

"Wait, what? Hold on, how did you figure that out?"

"Vision flash. The statue gave me one."

"Vision flash?" Corphish asks, confused.

"I don't know why, but when I touch certain things, I get visions of the past of future." Which means... I'll either be back here again with someone else, or, more likely, I was here before.

"Uh... Okay?" Corphish is clearly skeptical. I don't blame him...

"Look, don't worry about it. Just wait here." I turn my attention back to the statue. Holding the firestone in my mouth, I begin scaling it. After the perfect apple incident, I spent a sizable amount of time practicing my climbing ability. Not too long ago I've gotten good enough at it where I'm comfortable using it in missions. Before long, I reach the indentation. Taking the gem out of my mouth I carefully insert it into the indentation. It fits perfectly. I hear a click and the gem locks firmly in place.

"Anything?" I call back down to my friends.

"Doesn't look like... Wait... The fog! It's clearing!" Sure enough, the fog is vanishing before my eyes, revealing a blue sky. But something is off... there's no sunlight. Looking around the answer becomes very clear. Casting a shadow on us was a massive... I can only describe it as an island suspended in the air by a thick stone pillar. Waterfalls cascade from the top of the formation, resulting in the wetland-line terrain we've been traveling through.

"Holy mother of..." I mutter to myself. "You two seeing this?"

"Kinda hard not to see it." My partner replies.


	16. No Honor Among Thieves

"Even with the fog... I'm honestly surprised we missed this." I mutter to myself. Something that massive shouldn't fly under the radar so easily.

"Can someone please explain what's going on!?" Corphish cries out. "How did you know to put that into the statue?! And you're telling me you can see the past and future?! Did you know about this!?"

"You know about as much as I do." I answer as I climb back down. "Though I think it has something to do with my amnesia."

"...I... I just... How..."

"Look, just let us handle all the crazy stuff. We'll scout that structure out. You go get the others. We'll light a signal fire so you can find us or we find something interesting. Well, other than the giant floating island. " He still seems flustered. Guess this landmark and the revelation of my vision flashes are a bit too much to take in at once.

"Yeah... alright." Corphish replies, still flustered, but apparently deciding to let it go for now. "Good luck you two." With those words, he walks off.

"I'm not about to waste time, Pikachu. Let's go!" I tell my partner as we depart.

"Right behind you." We're not too far from the pillar, thankfully. though everything feels completely different without the fog. A little added wrinkle to our navigation. But one we can account for. For the first three quarters of the trip everything goes without trouble.

"Hey, Shock-Leaf!" A voice yells to us. It's Skuntank's. That's not a good sign.

"Oh no..." I mutter to myself. Team Skull is quick to surround us.

"Congratulations, you two. You just did all the work for us. Now whatever priceless artifacts are there will be ours for the taking."

"So that's why you helped the guild... Should have guessed. What's your plan now?"

"To get you two out of the picture. The only two who are suspicious of us."

"So you're going to kill us."

"Nothing so extreme! No, we're just going to knock your lights out."

"You realize we're not going to just let that happen, right?"

"Of course we do." Without another another word, his tail opens up, spewing poisonous liquid our way. I am quick to respond, leaping out of the way. Unfortunately, Pikachu is not so fortunate, getting drenched in it.

"Ugh!" He exclaims. "I'm going to need a pecha bath after this..." Turning his attention to Skuntank, he discharges a bolt of electricity into him. Skuntank staggers back slightly, but is still dangerous.

"My turn." He chuckles as he rams his thick skull into Pikachu. Brandishing my leaf blade I run to his aid only to be stopped by Koffing. He spews a fowl gas directly into my face, causing me to gag and collapse on the ground. Meanwhile Skuntank is beating Pikachu within an inch of his life. We're not going to be winning this fight...

"Friends! There you are!" Yells Wigglytuff's voice. I can see him rushing our way. Thank Arceus. A reprieve.

"Crap!" Skuntank mutters. He quickly switches to a much more friendly tone. "Guildmaster! You saw the fog lift?"

"I did!" He replies, seeming oblivious to our bruises. "Corphish tells us these two will scout ahead and make sure it's safe."

"Yeah. We were planning on joi-"

"Hey, Guildmaster, Skull was just asking us, why is it that you love perfect apples so much? Perhaps you could answer them." I interrupt, trying to force them into a situation that would let us go free.

Wigglytuff immediately beams with joy. "I would _love_ to! Let's see... Perfect apples... so juicy... and so sweet. sweeter than most apples. With a hint of sour. A lovely combination. You know, I remember the first time I had a perfect apple..." Oh this worked out so much better than I was expecting. Sounds like he will happily ramble on and on about them. This should keep them occupied for a good while. I nod to Pikachu, who nods back, smiling at the absurdity of Skull's situation.

With no other words, we go back to heading for the sky island. As we leave, I couldn't help myself. I snuck a sideways, smug glance back at them, much like how they did to us in Wigglytuff's office. They stare back, almost like they would plead to us for help. To get them out of their torment. With a final chuckle I turn away, facing forward once again. Sure it was rude, but in this case, I couldn't care less.

"Is that steam?" I ask, watching as clouds of gas seep from the cracks in the pillar. It didn't take us long to reach it. And apparently there's enough space inside for gases to flow.

"I think so. That's unexpected." Pikachu replies, looking over the massive rock formation. "Hey! Over here! There's an entrance!" Sure enough, there was a cave entrance into it. "Think this leads to the top?"

"Only one way to find out. First, though, we should light the signal fire so the others know where to look."

"Oh yeah." Taking some dry wood and rocks lying around, we set up a small fire pit.

"Right. Now, light it up." With a quick electric spark, the fire starts, sending a plume of smoke into the sky. "That should do the trick. Now... Let's see what's inside this thing."

 _Skuntank_

"...and then my little brother, he took a bite out of it and got juice all over his face! I laughed so hard! You would't believe..." He won't shut up. He won't shut up. He. Won't. Shut. Up. He's wasting their time! They would already be there if this brain dead idiot would just stop flapping his gums! They don't have time for this!

Skuntank's patience has vanished. They've been here for over half an hour! He doesn't care he's the Guildmaster, he's going to make him stop.

"Alright. That's it! Shut up!" His goons take up a similar stance, clearly as fed up as him. "I'm ending this!"

"But I haven't even gotten to the best part! I liked to sneak them into my room sometimes. One night I-"

"If you don't stop talking, we'll make you stop." Koffing threatens.

"That's not very nice. Friends should be nice. Niceness makes the world go-" No! The line is drawn at kiddie stuff! He gestures to Koffing, and they both blast him with the same knockout gas they used on Shock-Leaf in the forest. But... wait... he's still awake. And even weirder, he's... frowning?

"You... Tried to hurt me?" Arceus, how dense is this guy?

"We did. Don't you get it? We're not 'friends.'"

"Friends don't hurt friends..." He mutters, lip quivering.

"Get it though your thick head! We. Are not. Your. Friends!"

"Not... Friends?!" Suddenly, rumbling. Crevices form in the ground beneath them. Is Wigglytuff doing that?! "Friends do not hurt friends!" He screams as the ground becomes increasingly volatile. Skuntank can't help but think he went too far... and was about to pay the price.

"I will teach you not to hurt friends!" The rumbling grows, a massive pool of magma is forming under Wigglytuff's feet. "YOOM..." What is happening!? "TA!" With that final word, the pool erupts into an explosion of lava with a deafening boom. The last thing he remembers seeing is a wall of magma slamming into him before passing out.

 _Alex_

 _BOOM!_

"What the frick?" I say, feeling a shockwave blast through the floor beneath me. "What was that?"

"Sounded like an explosion." Pikachu surmises. "Perhaps a voltorb got a bit antsy."

"Yeah. Guess so. Still, be extra careful."


	17. Secrets of the Lake

"Pikachu, I see light! We're almost at the top." I exclaim to my friend.

"Awesome! I can't wait to see what's up there!" We pick up the pace, excited by what we may find. I have to squint as we leave the caves, my eyes readjusting to the light. Sheer rock faces close off all but one direction, forward.

"Can't be too far now. Let's go!"

"STOP!" A low voice echoes through the passage way. Deep and demanding. This is followed by heavy footfalls. Whatever's coming our way, it's big. "YOU DARE TO ENTER MY DOMAIN?! YOU INSOLENT FOOLS!" he speaker comes into view. Towering over us like a mountain, was none other than Groudon.

"Uh... Groudon, sir... We don't want trouble... We're just here to-"

"SILENCE, RODENT! THOSE WHO DARE TO TRESPASS ARE TO BE SENTENCED TO DEATH! YOU TWO SHALL PERISH!" Oh, this is not good... I doubt he's going to let us leave...

"Alex... What do we do?" Pikachu mutters nervously.

"We really don't have a choice." I draw my leaf blade, which is quickly becoming one of my favored moves. "We fight. And pray to Arceus we live."

"ENOUGH TALK! NOW, YOU SHALL DIE! AND ARCEUS WILL NOT SAVE YOU!" Suddenly, a wave of jagged rock pillars jut out from in front of him. Pikachu and I barely manage to avoid being impaled by diving out of the way. Guess we're not staying in one place for too long. How are we supposed to win this!? He has the very ground under our feet at his beck and call! But we have to try, at least.

I zig-zag my way towards him, dodging his attempts to claw me. I strike his leg with my blade, not expecting much. Surprisingly, though, he recoils a bit. Oh yeah! Groudon's a ground type! As a grass type, I have the advantage! But poor Pikachu is weak to ground types. This could prove problematic. And as if to drive my point home, his shocks are doing very little to our opposition.

Despite my advantage, Groudon's still too strong. Things are looking bad for us. As I go in for another strike, I am caught off guard by Groudon landing a kick to my face. Or, whole body, rather. The force of it throws me backwards until I skid to a stop. I try to get up, only to see Groudon preparing to flambe me with flamethrower as the flames rise from his throat...

 _Pikachu_

"Alex! No!" Pikachu screams. There was no way to reach him in time! He vainly reaches out his hand as if it would do something to save him. But then... something happens. Just as fire erupts from Groudon's maw, time... slows. Everything around him slows to nearly motionless. Everything, that is, except for himself. Did... Did he do this?

Doesn't matter. This is just the chance he needs. Without hesitation, he rushes to Alex's side, dragging him out of the way of the slowly billowing flames. and just for good measure, he fires a shock straight down the legendary pokemon's gullet. Ground type or not. it's going to leave a mark. What catches him off guard is that the bolt of electricity has also been slowed. Granted its moving very fast regardless.

With everything in place, time resumes it's normal flow. Fire strikes where Alex once was and Groudon recoils in pain at the sudden electric burn in his throat.

 _Alex_

"What on-" In an instant I seem to suddenly switch places. Out of range of Groudon's flamethrower. "How did-"

"I think I can... control time? I slowed it enough to get you out of the way." My friend answers. Wait... control time!? How!?

"YOU CAN... ALTER THE FLOW OF TIME... THIS IS AN UNEXPECTED TURN OF EVENTS." Much to my surprise, Groudon yields, ending the fight. "THERE IS MORE TO THE TWO OF YOU THAN I EXPECTED." Suddenly, Groudon vanishes. Replaced by a light gray, two tailed fairy-like being with a yellow headpiece.

"I apologize for the rude introduction. Call me Uxie."

"Alex. And this is Pikachu."

"A pleasure to meet the both of you. See, I am the guardian of Fogbound Lake. I've been here for centuries, guarding the artifact that lies within. The whole Groudon illusion is what I use to frighten trespassers, knock them out, And wipe their memories of this place.

"That's why I came. See... My memories are gone. Completely. I was hoping you knew what happened."

"...I have no recollection of you ever being here before. And besides, I only ever wipe the memories of Fogbound lake in particular. Never a full memory wipe." So it was a red herring... crap. "May I ask, that time manipulation thing. How did you do that?" Pikachu just shakes his head and shrugs

"I have no idea. It just sorta... happened."

"How peculiar."

"Friends!" Shouts a voice from behind us. It was none other than Wigglytuff. and the rest of the guild.

"More intruders!" Uxie readies to attack.

"Wait! Wait, Uxie!" I yell. "They're with us! They're not a threat!" After a second to consider my words, Uxie stands down.

"Why are they here?"

"We're explorers." Chatot answers. "Here to discover the secrets of this untamed land."

"Some things are best left undiscovered. They're safer that way."

"So... what sort of thing is here that would necessitate a cryptic riddle puzzle?"

"Believe me, if it were up to me, that riddle would have been sanded away long ago. But the statue is sacred in nature so... I can't. But to answer your question..." He looks us over, trying to decide his next course of action, taking particular interest in Pikachu. "Can I trust you to never speak pf this place? That which I guard here is too powerful and important for the common pokemon to be in possession of."

"We promise!" Wigglytuff cheers excitedly. The rest of the guild all nod in agreement. Ourselves included. "Very well. Follow me. And know at the first sign of trouble, your memories will be wiped." Again, we nod. My past may not be here, but at the very least we'll see this "powerful and important" artifact ourselves. The trip isn't a complete loss then.


	18. Truth in Legend

"I'm honestly surprised you agreed to show us this artifact." I speak up as we move towards the center of the island. "If it's important enough that you wipe it from memories..."

"There's something very different about you compared to most. Specifically, Pikachu."

"My time manipulation thing?" He inquires.

"Never in the thousands of years on Pokemar have I seen anyone but Dialga alter the flow of time. I contemplate if the artifact I guard is responsible."

"Even so," I add. "I'm glad you're letting us keep our memories.. I can just imagine myself plotting to get back here again at some point, convinced that the answers to my past would be here."

"And With such persistence, you'd probably become a headache quite fast. Just don't make me regret doing this. There will be consequences if you do."

"My lips are sealed." Appearing to be satisfied with my response for the time being, Uxie turns his attention back forward. Ahead of us is a lake. a rather large lake. Water was spilling over the sides, creating the falls we saw from the ground. And judging from the bubbles in the water, the steam from the pillar was being funneled right back up into the lake, Keeping it from losing too much water from the falls.

"Wow... that's quite something..." Chatot comments.

"You haven't seen anything, yet. Look in the water." We do, and something stand out. In the very center, there was a faint, teal glow. It was shaped in a five pronged object. Though it was too blurred to make out.

"I see it... what is it?"

"A time gear." Uxie replies.

"Wait, that's a time gear!?" Pikachu exclaims. "They're not just myth?!"

"They're not. They're very much real."

"Now I understand why you take such drastic measures to guard this place. The true Fogbound Lake, I suppose."

"Indeed. Now, please stay here. I am going to see if the gear is responsible for your powers. I hope you're ready for a light show." Oh, this is gonna be good.

Uxie floats over to the gear, eyes closed and arms outstretched. Slowly, the gear begins to rise and the lake shimmers in bright lights that swirl around the gear. Before long, the gear breaches the surface, pulsing with powers beyond our comprehension. The lights emerge as well, surrounded in a sphere of shimmering water, orbiting around the gear as it continues to pulse.

"It's beautiful..." I say, entranced.

"This is the prettiest thing I've ever seen..." My friend agrees. For several minutes we just stare, in awe of the beauty in front of us. But it can't last forever. The lights fade and the water drops, splashing back into the lake. The gear gently lowers itself back into the lake, resting back on the alter submerged below.

"Strange..." Uxie mutters. "I can't tell. It wasn't clear."

"It's fine." Pikachu replies. "We'll figure it out at some point. Thank you for trusting us."

"Just as long as you don't make me regret it. Remember our agreement."

"Tell no one of this place. We remember." I respond.

"Good. And you now know why it must be this way. Now then, it's time that you leave."

"I guess you're right. Farewell, Uxie."

"As to you all. I wish you the best on your travels." I nod in response before turning around, heading back the way we came, Pikachu right beside me. All in all, I'd say this expedition was a success. Though, sadly, my past still remains a mystery. And with the only lead I had leading to a dead end, I'm back at square one. Where do I go from here? Guess I'll have to keep searching. Keep an ear to the ground for any hints to my past. Nothing else for it.

"Well done, you two." Chatot tells us. "You've proven yourselves invaluable members of the guild. Glad to see we were right to bring you."

"Just doing our jobs, sir." Pikachu replies, beaming with pride. As do I. This bodes well for our future.

"Say, does anyone know where Team Skull went?" Corphis asks. Our smiles vanish instantly. I really don't want to think about those guys.

"They're..." Wigglytuff starts with a slight frown. "not friends." Everyone is taken aback. If even Wigglytuff is denouncing them, they're definitely not coming back. A relief to be sure.

"Yeah." I add. "A bunch of thieves. Wanted to use us to get at the 'treasure' hidden here. Would have said something earlier but... blackmail."

"And they betrayed our trust..." Chatot mumbles with ruffled feathers. "I hope they rot away in that bog down there." Sheesh... doesn't take lightly to this sort of thing. Note taken. A part of me wants to see if they're ok. That they'll get out of the area alive. Though considering Chatot's attitude, I'm not getting the go ahead for that anytime soon. "Anyways, Uxie mentioned a 'time manipulation' thing, Pikachu. What is that?"

"I wish I knew. When we first got up here, Uxie was using a Groudon illusion to scare us away. When Alex seemed to be in trouble I... slowed down time. I don't know how. Or why. It just sorta happened."

"Interesting... I'll consult some experts on the subject when we return. If there's one thing I've learned in my years as second-in-command, it's that there's truth in the strange."

 _Uxie_

 _36 hours later..._

"Ugh..." Uxie groans as he collapses to the ground. He could barely make out the figure that attacked him as he held the time gear up to his reptilian face, casting light on it as the dark of night obscured everything else. He was fast. Uxie couldn't keep up. At least the attacker didn't see fit to end his existence...

"Seems I'm making good time with collecting these." The attacker said quietly to himself.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted them... Don't do this! You don't know what you're doing!"

"On the contrary." The pokemon spoke with a gruff voice. "I know exactly what I'm doing."

"You're going to destroy everything!"

"Believe me, I'm doing this planet a favor. You'll see soon enough. But until then, I shall take my leave. Farewell."


	19. Enter, Dusknoir

"Alex, this isn't working. I can't do it." Pikachu sighs. We've been trying to get him to use his time slowdown ability again. See if we can't figure out a way for him to control it. I started by throwing rocks and telling him to try and slow time so he could pluck them out of the air. When that failed, I tried throwing rocks in his direction, in the hopes that perhaps putting him in "danger" would let it happen again. But, no such luck.

"Crap..." I mutter. "What else can we try...?"

"Well, short of putting myself in an actual deadly situation, I don't know." And we both know that'll never happen. But... it does give me an idea. I wouldn't put myself in real danger... but if he _thinks_ I'm in danger...

"I got one last idea. Stay here for a minute." I say to him. He complies, slightly confused. Quickly, I start climbing a nearby tree.

"Alex? What are you doing?"

"Rocks aren't working. Instead, try catching me."

Pikachu clearly doesn't like where this is going. "Wait, Alex?! Stop!" Once I reach a point high enough, I let go. I fully intend to grab back onto the tree before I break anything. But Pikachu doesn't know that. Hopefully it triggers something.

"Alex! No!" Below me, my friend dashes towards me, but he won't make it in time. Not unless he does his little trick. At the last minute I reach for the tree, getting a firm grip on the trunk as I slow down. And I couldn't have cut it any closer. My tail was scrapping the ground as I come to a full stop. Pikachu made it surprisingly far, though. Sadly not far enough to have caught me.

"You scared me half to death, Alex! Don't do that!" Oh... yeah, that was a bit insensitive, wasn't it?

"Sorry. Should have thought that through a bit more..." I admit. "Did anything happen at least?"

"Admittedly, time moved slightly slower for a bit there."

"Well, it's a start. But if this is what it takes for us to trigger it, I can't imagine how we'll train you to do it.

"I have some idea of what I was doing to cause it... I could try and dig deeper into that."

"Guess that'll have to work. My little stunt was a one time deal." As we speak, I notice something nearby. a gathering of pokemon in front of the guild. "Wonder what that's all about..."

"Well, no way to know other than to check it out." I nod in agreement, walking over to the gathering. Before long, we are in earshot. They seem to be discussing the arrival of someone.

"Who's the new arrival?" I ask.

Croagunk is the first to respond. "Ah, right. You were away on the expedition. Well, shortly after you left, this new guy appeared. A Dusknoir. Apparently he came all the way from Hoenn Major. A seeker of the unexplained and mysterious. He's heard about the whole Treeshroud Forest incident and wanted to see if he could figure it out."

"Well more power to him. I don't know why, but that incident worries me more than it probably should."

"You're not the only one there, Alex."

"You know, I kinda want to go and meet this guy. Would you happen to know where he is?"

"I think he said he was going to go over to Sharpedo Bluff." Ah yes... Sharpedo Bluff... A short ways west of here. My first encounter with it was when I was being tossed around by the sea. At first I thought it was a real, enormous monster that would kill me without a second thought. Then the logic kicked in and I realized it was a rock formation. Even then, it casts an imposing silhouette.

"How long ago was that?"

"Less than half an hour ago."

"Probably still there then. I say we pay him a visit."

"Alright." Pikachu agrees. "Let's go see him."

"There." I say. "That must be him." Standing, or rather, hovering on the top of the bluff was a round, grey ghost type pokemon. He was staring out over the bay that leads into the blue expanse of the ocean. "Excuse me. Dusknior, is it?"

He turns to address us. "Hello there, you two. I don't think I've seen you around before."

"That would probably be because we just got back from an expedition."

"I see. And did you find anything in your expedition?" As promised, we can't tell him what we really saw. Though I wish we could.

"Sadly, no." Pikachu answers. "Just a lot of swampland. Nothing interesting."

"Shame. So many resources and energy expended on this endeavor and it yields nothing."

"Not completely nothing. The area's charted now. Our wonder maps are showing it now."

"I admire your optimism. Tell me. What are your names?"

"I'm Pikachu. This is Alex."

"Alex, you say..." Wait... was... I swear I saw a glint of recognition in his eye for a second... Could he know about my past? "Odd name. Is it, perchance, your pack name?" He continues on, oblivious to who I am. Guess I just imagined it.

"You know about as much as I do, Dusknoir. I know nothing of where I'm from. Just woke up drowning in the ocean. It's about all I can remember of my past."

"Amnesia... Such a cruel act of fate. I wish I could help you."

"Thanks for the thought." I reply.

"Now, it was nice talking with you, but I have matters to attend to. I must be on my way." Dusknoir begins to turn away, hovering away from the edge of the bluff back to town

"Alright. See you later, Dusknoir!" Pikachu yells as he leaves. "He's quite nice."

"He is. And... I have an inkling that he knows something about me."

"You mean you may have met him in the past? Before your memory loss?"

"I suppose. He seemed to recognize me. I could see it in his eye."

"Then why would he lie to us about not knowing?"

"I don't know, honestly. Am I just grasping at straws here?"

"I couldn't say. But it's another lead, at least. Hopefully not a dead end though."

"Hopefully."

 _Skuntank_  
 _Filthy Shock-Leaf... The treasure was supposed to be ours! And those two dumbbells stole it away from us! Well... they're about to learn an important rule... Never screw over Team Skull! Let's see if they survive what we have in store for them..._


	20. Amp Plains

"Azuril! Marill! Good to see you two again!" I call out to our blue, round friends. We crossed paths as we were headed to the market to pick up some supplies for the guild. While dungeon raiding is exciting and fun, It's nice to have a break from it every once and a while. Something as mundane as getting groceries, while not always entertaining, offers a nice change of pace to our usual adventures.

"Some to you, Alex and Pikachu." Marill replies, grinning. "And we have good news! We've figured out where our water float is!"

"That's great!" Pikachu exclaims. "Where was it?"

"See... there's the problem. It's in Amp Plains."

"That's to the northeast, right? Uncharted territory."

"Right. We'd try to go get it ourselves, but after the whole incident on Mt. Bristle..."

"That's probably for the best." I respond. "As soon as we're done with our supply run, we'll go search the area for it."/p

"Yes! That's exactly what we were going to ask from you! Here's the address to our house." He hands me a small sheet of paper. Scribbled on it is the address of a house in Treasure Town. "Meet us there when you get back."

"Thank you! We really appreciate it!" Azuril interjects.

"Anytime." I respond. "Now if you'll excuse us, we'll be on our way. See you two soon."

"So this is Amp Planes." I say as we approach the rocky terrain. For a place called Amp _Plains_ there are quite a few tall rock faces and not a lot of flat ground. "You know, I sort of expected less... rock."

"Me too. I was expecting grass." Pikachu replies. Another thing worth noting is that the air has a static electric feel to it. It almost feels like my whole body has a thin sheet of static wrapped over it. Not the most comfortable feeling in the world. But that's not the only thing...

"You feel that, Pikachu?"

"Feel what?"

"It feels like we're being watched... That we're not alone here. Nor are we welcome."

Pikachu's posture immediately shifts to one of anxiety and discomfort. "I really hope that's just paranoia."

"Same. Still... Keep an eye open. Better to be cautious rather than careless."

"You're right. Doesn't mean I can't hope, though."

 _Azurill_

"So, Marill, what do you wan't to do next?"

"Hmmm... I was thinking we go play tag on the beach."

"Sounds like fun." As the two brother's spoke, a ghost type pokemon approached them. "Oh! Good afternoon, Dusknoir."

"Good afternoon, young ones." He replied. "Say, have you seen Alex and Pikachu about lately? I was looking for them."

"Oh! I know!" Marill bounces in excitement. "They went to Amp Plains to get out water float back!"

"Amp Plains?!" Dunknoir exclaims. "But that's... I have to go after them..." Without further comment, he rushes away.

"...That was strange." Marill comments.

"Yeah. I hope they're alright."

 _Alex_

"A thunderstorm without rain..." I point out as the dry wind screams across the surface of the rocky landscape. "Peculiar."

"Think it's unique to Amp Plains?"

"Stranger things have happened to us. I wouldn't rule it out." Suddenly, something catches my eye. It looks like a rubber ring. About the size of Marill. "Is that the water float?"

"I think so, yeah."

"...I don't like this. Why is it just sitting out in the open?"

"You think it's a trap?"

"Yeah."

"Well we have to get it regardless, so..."

"Alright. Stay there. No use in the both of us getting caught in it." And when things do go south, he'll be in a position to save me. I slowly approach the water float, eyes darting around every rock for pokemon to leap out at me. I draw my leaf blade, ready for anyone who would wish my demise. Several tense minutes later and I'm at the float. But I'm not letting my guard down yet. My heart beats out of my chest as I reach for it, looking to any sort of trip wire, trap door, or other mechanism that might try and screw me over. But as I grab the water float, nothing happens. It's not rigged. It's safe. I breathe a sigh of relief, tension draining from my muscles.

"Whew..." I sigh. "We're okay. There's no-" I was wrong. It wasn't rigged. But it was under surveillance. From behind me several quadruped pokemon emerge from behind a large rock face. Luxio. Lot's of them. A platoon's worth of them. All led by a single Luxray.

"What are outsiders doing here?" The Luxray demands. "This land is sacred to our people." Oh no... _Sacred?_ This is bad...

"Sir... I greatly apologize..." I try to remain calm as I try to negotiate my way out of this. "I- er, we were unaware of this place's significance to your people." They don't respond. Merely stare me down. It's unnerving, to say the least. "Uh... listen, we don't want trouble. This water float here? We were sent to recover it. It's our job. Now that we have it, we'll gladly leave-"

"That's not an option. We cannot know if you're honest or not. And we must never allow dark hearts onto our land. As such, for our sake, you may not leave this place alive." Frick... So much for a quiet day...

"Pikachu, I could use your help right about now!"

"Raikou... Give us the strength to cleanse this land of impurity!" Pikachu is quick to run to my aid, for what good that'll do against thirty-some Luxio.

Luxray strikes first. A short burst of electricity explodes from him, washing over us. I feel my muscles involuntarily convulse from the electricity. This leaves me vulnerable for the next attack. A Luxio charges at me, ready to sink his teeth into me. Pikachu thankfully spots this, lobbing an electro ball at my attacker. It grabs their attention long enough for me to land a hit with my leaf blade. It actually has a decent effect, causing my target to stagger back a short ways.

Unfortunately, The rest of the Luxio have decided to join in. The swarm us, zapping us again and again, whittling down our strength. The sheer number of attacks is impossible to avoid. We are grossly outmatched. And they refuse to yield. I swing my blade constantly. Each time landing a strike on one of them. but for each one I hit, they rest return the favor ten-fold.

Soon we are completely surrounded. Battered and bloody. On our last legs. Pikachu is but by one of them with thunder fang. That' does him in. He collapses on the ground. I soon follow with a discharge to the face. With minimal effort on their part, they've defeated us. And now they loom over us, ready to finish the job. Looks like this is where we meet our end...

"ENOUGH!" A voice echoes through the cavern. Dusknoir's voice. He came to rescue us?!

"Another one!?" Luxray snarls. "You have the gall to trespasser here?!"

"Let them go. Or there will be consequences."

"You dare threaten us!?" Without another word, the Luxray charges. But much to our surprise, Dusknoir... melts out of the way? He just seems to melt into his shadow. Luxray seems just as confused. Suddenly, Dusknoir leaps back out from his shadow, wrapping an arm around Luxray's neck.

"I'm no longer asking. You _will_ let them go. Or else I will end your leader's life." Wait... is he... he's threatening to _kill_ him?! Is he bluffing?!

The Luxio stare nervously. Unsure of what to do. They clearly don't want to lose Luxray.

"...Do as he says." Luxray mutters in defeat. "Raikou forgive us..." With his word, the Luxio stand down. Pikachu and I both breathe a sigh of relief. Dusknoir releases his captive, who rejoins his tribe, head low in shame. "Don't just stand there! You've shamed us enough already! Leave!"

"Alright." I respond as I start to limp away. "Dusknoir... you weren't actually going to kill him, right?"

"I was. I could not allow him to kill the both of you."

"But... to resort to murder?"

"There are times where no other option presents itself. I did what I had to do."

"I see. Well regardless, you have our thanks."

"Yeah... I was so sure that we were dead... But there's still something that confuses me. They didn't want anyone else there. And an outlaw supposedly dropped it. But it was so conspicuously out in the open. It looked deliberate."

"Yeah. You're right." I agree. "There's no reason for the Luxio to have put it there. So who-"

"Aw, that's not fair!" A gruff voice calls to us. Skuntank... "You weren't supposed to get help! I wanted to see if you'd actually make it by yourselves."


	21. Time Theft

"You're telling us that this was all your doing?!" I exclaim, infuriated by the prospect.

"Well, someone had to pay for that incident on the expedition."Zubat explains. "And since tricking Wigglytuff is far too much trouble for what it's worth, you two runts were the next best option."

"So you were going to have us killed."

"Nah... We'd swoop in for the rescue, make sure you owed us a favor." Skuntank replies.

"Wow. So you were thinking of the long run. And here was me thinking this was some sort of short-sighted, poorly planned revenge strike."

"Tough words from a pokemon who needed a rescue. I thought guild members would be a bit more, how would you say, competent." Alright! That's it! I start making my way towards them, well, limping, unthreateningly towards them. Their laughs at my feeble approach only further angers me. Oh, if I were in peak condition... they'd not be so cocky...

"That's enough from you three!" Dusknoir barks. glaring at them with a deathly gaze. "I suggest you return home, and do whatever it is you lowlifes do. And if you ever attempt to harm these two ever again, I will personally make sure you'll be stuck in hospital beds for the rest of your lives." Yeesh... brutal. I'd retort... if it wasn't so fun watching those three squirm as they imaging the pain Dusknoir could put them through.

"Fine. Ok. We'll leave. We know when we've been beat." Skuntank mutters, defeated. "Come on... let's go." With that, they turn around and leave.

"Glad to see that they'll not be bothering us anymore." Pikachu sighs. "Thanks again Dusknoir."

"My pleasure. Though sadly, today's troubles are far from behind us. I have message of vital importance I must share with the guild. I wanted to be sure everyone was there. Which is why I was looking for you. Now that I've found you, we'd best head back. time is of the essence."

"Is this message really this important?"

"More than you realize."

* * *

"I thank you all for gathering on such short notice." Dusknoir begins. The whole guild has gathered in the main hall, curious as to what is to be said. "Now, I'm afraid I have some rather unsettling news. I'm aware your guild charted the Fogbound Lake region less than a week ago. Well, three days ago, the region was frozen in time." The entire room erupts in worried murmurs. Fogbound Lake... frozen in time? How? Wait... the time gear... Time gears control the flow of time... Could something have happened to it?

"Settle down, everyone. I still have very important things to say." Slowly, the guild quiets. "Thank you. Now. It's worth mentioning that the incident was identical to the one in Treshroud Forest a while back." Could that mean Treeshroud Forest also has a time gear? "And I know why. See... I haven't been perfectly honest with you all. I am not from Hoenn Major. As hard as it is to believe, I am, in fact, from the future." The entire guild just stares in mute confusion. Is he serious?! That's crazy!

"Of course you all doubt me. Reasonably so. But for the sake of all of Pokemar, you _must_ trust me. I am tracking a known criminal. A thief by the name of Grovyle. Recently, he escaped custody and managed to go back through time. When he arrived, he made it his goal to take all five of the time gears."

"Why would he do that?" Chatot questions.

"He is delusional. He believes that by gathering all five, he can somehow bring an end to an oncoming "apocalypse." When in reality if he does, he will _cause_ an apocalypse. I trust you've heard the legends. Without the time gears, time cannot be maintained. Once the last gear is removed from it's pedestal, time itself will stop. The skies blanketed in perpetual darkness. And nothing will ever move. Forever locked in a moment of time.. And once it has happened, there will be no going back. " Once again, silence. Could he be telling the truth? Could we be facing the end of time itself?

"These incidents are the result of the removal of a time gear. This means two have been lost already. We cannot let this continue." He sounds crazy... but then again, he makes some level of sense. He arrived around the time these time freezes began. And if he is right... then we must help him. There's too much at risk.

"What would you suggest we do?" I ask. "Grovyle seems to know where these gears are. We don't."

"I know where one is. The Northern Desert. Where in the desert I do not know."

"Let me and Pikachu go. I have some... special skills... that would be of use."

"How soon can you be ready?"

"Tomorrow morning at the latest. Some Oran salve should fix up the wounds."

"Do you believe this is a good idea, Guildmaster?"

"Team Shock-Leaf is one of our best teams." Wigglytuff replies with a smile. "I would trust them."

"Very well. You two hurry. We have very little time to waste."

"Will do, Dusknoir. Let's go, Pikachu"

"Right behind you Alex."

* * *

"Are you sure about this, Alex?" Pikachu asks me.

"Sure about Dusknoir telling the truth?" I ask back. He nods. "I'm not. It all sounds crazy to me. But... My life is a bit crazy as well. Human turned pokemon, washed ashore without any memories, able to see visions of the past and future, who am I to say he's lost it?"

"I guess you're right. It's just... from the future of all things? It sounds like straight up fantasy."

Dusknoir's voice interrupts us. "I'm sure it does. after all, I haven't given very much proof. Not that there's any to give."

"Oh! Hey Dusknoir. What's up?"

"I was just checking in on you two. Seeing if you'd be ready soon. I couldn't help but overhear you talking about that 'visions of the past and future' Alex. Care to elaborate?"

"Sure, I guess. I've found that when I touch certain things, I get these vision flashes of past or future events related to them. The last time it happened the object seemed to glow."

"Sounds a lot like dimensional screams."

"Is that what they're called? What an odd name."

"I suppose it is. It's a very rare ability that does exactly what you described. I've only ever seen it once before."

"Yeah. I'm hoping it will give us a leg up on Grovyle. Arceus knows we need one."

"That is true. Anyways, while you're gone, the guild's going to send out search parties to several remote locations that may hold the gears. Hopefully they can find the other two gears."

I sling out team back over my shoulder. "Yeah. At least we can get to one of them and maybe set up a defense."

"Good luck, Team Shock-Leaf. We're counting on you." Yeah. Thanks. No pressure...


	22. Sands of Time

I'm glad we had the foresight to pack copious amounts of water with us. Because the Northern Desert is about as dry as one could expect. We've used up a fair portion of it already. But we should have enough for the trip back.

"Ugh... I hate dry heat..." I mumble...

"Yeah. I got that the first ten times you said it." Pikachu mumbles back.

"Sorry. That's all that's on my mind. Hard not to think about."

"Well for my sanity's sake, mind trying?"

"Alright. You know, the dunes sort of have a beauty to them."

"I think you're trying a bit too hard."

"Never satisfied huh?" I chuckle. "I see how it is."

"Woah! Alex! Stop!" I heed his words, and I'm immediately thankful I did. In front of us is something strange. Sand seems to be forming massive funnels across the ground, eternally falling towards the center. Like there were holes in the ground beneath. Had I made one more step, I'd be carried away by the sand to Arceus knows where. "There's something you don't see every day."

"Yeah. What is this?"

"...Sinking sand? I don't know. I've never seen it before. Probably shouldn't go in, though."

"Still, it's the only remotely interesting thing we've seen so far. This could be our clue to the time gear in this area." That's when I notice a teal glow from one of the pits. The same type of glow the Groudon statue had at Fogbound Lake. "In fact... See that one? It's glowing."

"...You sure you're not just dehydrated?"

"No. It's the same thing as that statue from the expedition. Which means there's a vision fla- er... dimensional scream to be had."

"Alright. Try not to fall in though."

"Not planning on it." Carefully, I work my way over to the pit, watching my footing so I don't find myself tumbling in. Once within arm's reach, I run my hand through the sand as it falls. And as sure as clockwork, I get another dimensional scream. I hear voices.

 _"Into the pit? That doesn't seem safe..."_

 _"It's the only way in, it seems. We should hurry."_ So my suspicions have been confirmed. This is the place. But then something changes... I feel my vision shift to a different event.

 _"It's pulling me in! Alex, help!"_

 _"I'm coming, Thunder! Grab on!"_

 _"Oh no... It's too late!"_

 _"Thunder! No! I can't lose you too! No! THUNDER!"_ Wait... that was _my_ voice! What is this?! Who's Thunder!?

My dimensional scream subsides, leaving me back in the real world.

"What the..." Is all I can say.

"What happened?"

"I got information on where to go but... I heard something else... Myself and someone named Thunder. He was in danger. I was trying to rescue him, but he got... killed? I don't know..."

"Thunder? That feels... familiar... somehow."

"You think you met him before?"

"I don't know. It just feels familiar."

"Strange. But we'll have to sort that out later. We can't waste time."

"Right. So, where to?"

"Well, into the pit."

"...You're joking. We'll suffocate in the sand!"

"My dimensional screams haven't led us astray before."

"Right. The Waterfall Cave. Alright, Alex. Let's leap for the center. The less time spent in the sand, the better."

"Okay." I kneel down, readying to jump. "On the count of three. One..." This had better work...

"Two..." Alright... Calm thoughts... Don't panic.

"Three!" I leap. and Pikachu does too. The sand beneath us slips out of the way as we land, pulling us up to our chests in sand. And as the sand falls below us, we sink further in as well. No turning back now. Before long, we're in up to our necks. I take a deep breath, and hope we don't stay submerged for long. Just as my eyes vanish beneath the surface, I feel something weird beneath my feet. Not more sand, no. The sand under me is... falling away? Perhaps... we're above a massive underground cave? This could be exactly what we've been looking for!

Well at the very least, we won't be holding our breaths for long. As we sink further and further in, the sand continues to fall away. Soon, there's not enough sand to keep us "submerged" Gravity takes hold, and we fall. I can't tell how far. But it's quite a ways.

Our fall is broken by what feels like a mound of sand. I get myself back up, shaking sand off of myself, spitting out a bit that found its way into my mouth. I look around. Or, at least, I try to. It's pitch black. No light breaches through the surface.

"Pikachu? You there?"

"Ugh. I hate sand..." He starts shaking the sand out of his fur.

"Not surprised, considering you're an electric type. Think you could spark up? Can't see anything in here.

"One sec." I hear sparking from beside me. Soon the whole cave is bathed in a bright, yellow light as electricity arcs across his red cheeks. "There we are." The cave is massive. Sand cascades down from above us from the hole we fell through, pilling up into the mound we landed in. Ahead was a passageway. Dark and foreboding at the edge of Pikachu's light.

"Wow... What does this make this? The third stunning discovery we've made so far?"

"I honestly didn't expect to be in so many breathtaking locations. All within a few weeks, no less."

"It's amazing to think how far we've come. You, an amnesiac stranger washed ashore on the beach, and me. A coward through and through. Now look at us."

"On the edge of the frontier. It is incredible. We should hurry, though. Grovyle may be on the way as we speak."

"Right. Fair point. Let's see where this cave leads."

* * *

"There's something glowing up ahead." I call out.

"I see it too. Think it's our time gear?"

"I'd say odds are pretty good." As we approach, things become more clear. The glow is coming from an underground lake ahead of us. I'm reminded very much of Fogbound Lake. "Another lake. Are all of them in lakes?"

"Maybe. Now... What do we do?"

I am about to respond when a female voice interjects. "You could start by explaining yourselves." Oh for the love of...

"Who's there?!" Pikachu yells, startled. Ahead of us, a fairy-like pokemon similar to Uxie descends in front of us.

"I am Mesprit. Pokemon of emotion. And you... Uxie warned us someone was after the gears. Seems like you've come to continue your destructive mission."

"Wait! Listen to us! We're not here to take it! We're here to help defend it!"

"Yeah. That seems likely. You expect me to believe your arrival and the gears' disappearance aren't related? Sorry, I'm not that gullible. I will ensure your little rampage ends now!" Pink psychic energy radiates out from her forehead. She is not messing around.

"Why does everyone want our heads on a stake all of a sudden..." I mutter as I draw my leaf blade.


	23. Miscommunication

Mesprit doesn't hesitate to attack. A yellow bolt from her forehead nearly misses me, causing me to jump back in surprise. "Pikachu, try and flank her." I tell my friend, quietly. "I'll try and keep her attention on me."

"Got it." I dash at her, zig-zagging to avoid her Confusion attacks as best I can. This, unsurprisingly, pulls her attention to me.

Once in range I feint, trying to throw her off. But It doesn't fool her. She waits for my actual strike to put up her defenses. My swing is interrupted as her tails ensnare my blade, ripping it from my grasp. While I'm staggered, she uses Swift, several star-like projectiles zoom towards me smacking into me and knocking me onto the floor.

She readies to continue her assault, but a lightning bolt from a miniature storm cloud interrupts her. Glad to see Pikachu's got a strong sense of timing. As she turns to face him, I rush to me blade, scooping it back up and slashing her across the back.

"Mesprit, stop! We're on the same side!" I yell, trying to get her to back down.

"I'm not putting the fate of the world at risk to trust two trespassers whom I never met!" Honestly, I should have expected that. She's not going to stop unless we take her down.

She turns to me, using Confusion once again. The blast throws me of balance, causing me to topple over. As Pikachu once again goes after her, she uses Swift to force him back. Getting back up, she turns her attention back to me. prepping a Swift attack for me. The stars pummel me, each one hitting hard.  
She's started taking back the upper hand. We need a new plan of attack. How could we- Oh... risky, but if it works...

"Pikachu! Time freeze!" I call to my partner.

"You sure that's a good idea?" He calls back. Mesprit looks back and forth between us, unsure what to make of my callout. I take the chance to tackle her. She responds with a sort of judo throw, sending me skidding across the floor.

"It couldn't hurt." I answer.

"Ok... I'll try." Pikachu closes his eyes. Focusing. Trying to get his special power to obey him. If it does work, Mesprit's going to be in for a nasty surprise.

 _Pikachu_  
Pikachu concentrates. He's been practicing for a while and managed to reach about half of normal time speed. If he can reach that again, it might just be enough.

"Come on..." He mutters. "Come on..." Suddenly, all the sounds around him begin to slow and shift down in tone. He's done it! Something else comes to mind. During training, this tended to exhaust him. So he'd best not waste time. Opening his eyes, he sees Mesprit moving towards him. But at about half speed. Perfect. He guns it, headbutting her in the face, following it up with a flurry of electric zaps and punches. He's moving too quickly for her to react.  
Inevitably, however, exhaustion overtakes him and he drops back into normal speed, then drops onto the floor.

 _Alex_  
It was a flurry of motion. Mesprit could barely react, let alone process what was happening. Before long, she drops out of the air into a crumpled heap. Pikachu soon follows suit. He had told me that it was en exhaustive process. Now I see what he meant.

"You okay, there buddy?"

"Hah... hah... Yeah... Just give me a second." He pants. Slowly he gets back up on his feet, looking down at our defeated foe. "So, what now?"

"Hm... Well we can't just leave this place unguarded... Perhaps we could try and block up the entrance? Keep Grovyle from getting in so easily?"

"How on Pokemar would we do that? There's sand falling through it and it's way too high for us to reach."

"Wait..." Mesprit struggles to speak." You're seriously trying to fortify the lake?"

"Like we said, we're here to protect the time gear. Not steal it."

"I... I'm sorry for not trusting you... I just thought... you know."

"I would probably do the same in your place." I reply as I dig through my bag. I pull our a few oran berries. "Here. Should our thief come, three of us stand a better chance than two."

As if on cue, a harsh, deep voice responds. "I don't think that will matter very much." I turn to face the voice. And sure enough, it was him.

"Grovyle!" I growl.

"You know who I am? Huh. No matter. I have no quarrel with you. Just step aside and let me have the time gear."

"Not going to happen, you maniac."

"Your courage is admirable, but misplaced. I will go through you if I must."

"Well, we're not going to just let you take it!" Mesprit replies, back up on her feet. While not completely, healed, she should be strong enough to fight.

"Suit yourselves." Without warning, he dashes at me, leaf blades extending from his wrists. I barely have a chance to process this before I'm swept off my feet and slammed back into the ground. Such a blow wouldn't immediately take me down under normal circumstances, but haven been in a fight already means I've already taken some damage. With the same speed, Grovyle strikes both Pikachu and Mesprit, who go down just as easily as I did. In the span of a few seconds, he has single handedly defeated us.

"I guess I should thank you two for softening yourselves up for me. Makes my job a lot easier." He comments as he walks up to the lake. He dives in, taking the gear off it's pedestal before resurfacing.

"Stop this, Grovyle!" I yell. "Can't you see this is dangerous?! These gears are guarded for a reason!"

"You two don't have the full story. Rest assured, I do. I'd explain, but time is of the essence. Speaking of which, If I were you three, I'd start running. Wouldn't want you to become trapped in temporal stasis." With those words, he leaves. And honestly, he's right. The whole Northern Desert, like Treeshroud Forest and Fogbound Lake, is about to be frozen in time. And if we don't hurry, so will we.


	24. Square One

"Come on! We have to go!" I yell. Pikachu starts to get up onto his feet, as does Mesprit. Too slowly for my liking though. The cavern begins to rumble violently, like it's enraged over the loss of the time gear.

"If I had just listened to you two..." Mesprit laments.

"We can worry about that later. Right now, we need to focus on getting out of here alive." I respond, urgently. At that moment, something catches me eye. The lake... changed color? No... it's drained of color. Monochrome. And the rocks around the lake. Also monochrome. It's spreading.

With alarming speed, this effect expands outward from the gear's shrine. I grab both of my companions' hands and rush back the way we came. No way I'm letting that touch us. Returning back to the chamber we entered I quickly realize a problem. A big problem.

"Wait... how are we supposed to get back up!?" I begin to panic. No... I can't get trapped down here!

"I could try flying you two up out of here." Mesprit suggests.

"You're strong enough to lift the both of us?" Pikachu asks.

"Not sure... The fight from earlier took it's toll..." I glance back behind us. The wave of time energy was closing fast. If we don't get going now, we're done for.

"It's the best option we have. Now hurry!" I yell. Mesprit grabs ahold of us, starting to lift up into the air.

"Eeeerugh..." She strains, her arms shaking in exertion. The good news is we're making progress. The bad news is the wave is gaining on us. This is going to be close. Soon we reach the ceiling and begin our accent through the sand. I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and wait...

After a short while, we break through the surface. Mesprit still working hard to haul us away from the sinkhole. The moment we are out of range, she drops us and promptly collapses on the sand.

"Go... Save yourselves..." She mutters. "I can't go on..."

"We're not going to leave you here. That not what Shock-Leaf does." I reply. Nodding to Pikachu, we hoist her up, planning to carry her the rest of the way. The second we have her steady, we bolt. A glance behind me tells me that the wave of energy is still expanding. How far it will go, I cannot tell. But in spite of everything, The wave is gaining. We can't afford to stop. We must escape!

Suddenly my foot slams into something. A stray rock lying out in the middle of the desert. I trip over it, causing the others to tumble as well. The wave is mere seconds away from us. This is it... I instinctively close my eyes as it arrives.

For a moment... silence. Is this it? Are we frozen? I try to open my eyes. And much to my surprise, They actually open. The wave stopped. Stopped just in time. Nervous laughter echoes from my companions. And myself. We survived by the width of a hair. Quite literally.

"Oh my Arceus..." Pikachu sighs in relief. "That was _way_ too close..."

"You can say that again..." I reply. Pikachu gets up. And almost like a testament to our luck, I note that a few strands of his fur off of his tail got trapped in temporal stasis. I could hear them rip free of his tail as he got up. There they stood, held aloft for eternity at the very edge of the monochrome wasteland. "Unfortunately this means Grovyle has over half the gears..."

"There's only two left... We have to get to them before he does. Mesprit, you have to help us."

"Fatigue... too... tired..." She quietly mutters. Well frick...

"We'll take you to the guild. You can rest up there."

"Yeah. Meanwhile, we'll keep hunting for the locations. We need to stop him."

"How is she?" I ask Dusknoir. It has been a day since our mission to the Northern Desert. Mesprit has been resting nonstop since we got back. I don't blame her. Two take downs, stress, and having to exert so much energy to get us out of there, she deserves it.

"Last I checked, she was eating something. I think she's ready to speak with us."

"What are we waiting for, then? Let's go." He nods in agreement and we enter the room. There she was, floating above her bead. Eating an oran berry. As we enter, she turns to look at us.

"Ah. Alex. Pikachu. Good to see you two again." She says. "I suppose you're here to ask about the gears."

"We are." I answer. "If you know where they are, you must tell us. We have the manpower to help fight back Grovyle when he appears next."

"I would tell you. If I knew, that is. As a precaution, Arceus kept us in the dark about where most of the these gears are. We can't even glean it from each other through telepathy."

"Telepathy?"

"Yeah. keeps us in touch in case something happened. Like the removal of the Fogbound Lake gear, for instance."

"So you have no idea where it would be?"

"Well, Through our communications I've managed to figure out a general area. To the north of here. Like you said, you have a lot of manpower. Sweep the area and you might find what you're looking for."

"Right. And I'll ask that they bring things back for you to check, Alex." Pikachu adds.

"Uh... ok... why?"

"I have a... special... ability." I explain. "I can get these things called dimensional screams. Visions of the past or future, if I touch certain things. It's how we found you."

"Wait... you can see dimensional screams?" Her eyes widen in surprise. "That shouldn't be possible... That only happens from exposure to vast amounts of temporal energy... and even then, it would more likely outright kill you that let you see those..." Seriously?! What happened in my past!? Things are getting crazier and crazier!

"I wish I knew... See... I have amnesia. I can't remember how this happened. I just woke up adrift at sea, washing up on a shore, and that's as far back as my memories go."

"Dang. Sounds like you've been through a lot. I can't imagine how that could have happened."  
Dusknoir clears his throat. "Look, we don't have time for this. I suggest we star searching the area she mentioned. The sooner we catch that thief, the better off we'll be."

"You're right Dusknoir. We should go. Thanks for your help, Mesprit."

"My pleasure."


	25. Rally the Troops

"...Nothing. None of these are working!" I yell in frustration as the stone brought back from Mt. Bristle yields nothing. While Mesprit's information has helped narrow down the location of this particular gear, it's still a very large area. And even with every guild member working overtime to find something of interest we haven't even searched half of it. Every moment we spend doing this, Grovyle get's closer and closer to ending life as we know it. There's too much on the line. We can't fail!

"Alex, calm down..." Pikachu tells me.

"How could anyone be calm in this situation?! We're facing the end of the world!"

"I know, but getting all flustered over it helps no one."

"I know. It's just..." A thought enters my head. A thought that frightens me.

"Just what?"

"...What if this is all my fault? What if what I did in the past caused this? Could I be the reason everyone is in danger?" We stand in silence. Pikachu clearly doesn't know what to say. Probably because it could very easily be true.

"You don't seem like one who would do that, Alex."

"What if I didn't mean to? I made a mistake that started this? I mean, All this began after I washed ashore. I don't want to be responsible for the apocalypse..."

"Alex, Grovyle and Dusknoir are from the future. You're not. There's no way you could have caused this. But you do have something that could help us solve it. We will get through this. I know we will."

I take a few deep breaths. "Yeah. We will. We'll do everything we can to save Pokemar."

"That's the spirit! Now let's keep going." Right. I pick up another object. A branch from Oran Woods. Still no dimensional scream. But we must be getting close. Either one of the teams sent out will stumble across something suspicious or they'll bring me back something with a scream attached to it eventually, right? ...Right?

The sound of the door squeaking open breaks my concentration. It's Bidoof. Seems he's back from the crystal caves. He trots over to us, carrying his bag.

"Hey, Bidoof. Anything?"

"Pulled a crystal out for ya. But couldn't find anything suspicious."

"Well, let's take a look." He slings his bag over and opens it up, bringing the crystal into full view. I instantly note the teal glow. Could it be? Has my patience been rewarded? "Pikachu, is it glowing to you too?"

A smile creeps across my friend's face. "Only to you." Jackpot! We've got it! Without hesitation, I reach over and touch it. I close my eyes and the familiar feelings wash over me. When I open them again, I am surrounded by cavern coated in sky blue crystal. Ahead is a lake. A lake just like Fogbound Lake and the one under the Northern Desert. And at the bottom of the lake, a teal, glowing gear. Yes! We've found it!

In front of the lake is what I've been told is what Azelf looks like. And then there's a less welcoming sight. Grovyle. He found the gear?! Is this in the future? The past? Are we too late?

"Enough is enough! This stops now, intruder!" Azelf warns.

"I don't have time to argue with you." Grovyle responds. "Get out of my way. Don't make me hurt you."

With that, the scream ends, whisking me back to the Shock-Leaf team room in a flash of white light.

"Alex?" Pikachu asks, hopefully.

"We've got the location. Get everyone together. We need a battle plan."

"Alex, slow down." Chatot asks me. "You're making no sense. What are these 'dimensional screams' you're talking about?" Right. I never told him. Forgot about that.

"Basically, when I touch certain things, I see visions of the past and future. And in this one I saw Grovyle attempting to take a gear from inside Crystal Cave. We need to hurry!"

"...How are you able to see these?" I guess he's afraid that I'm not thinking clearly.

"Like I would know. But we don't have time for that."

"He's right. We don't." Dusknoir adds as he enters the room. "He's not lying. It's these screams that let him find the gear in the Northern Desert. You have little reason not to trust him."

"Well... It's not the strangest thing I've heard lately... and you are one of our best guild members, Alex... alright. I'll send you two over."

"Better make it a bigger group." I say. "We can't risk him getting away. Having some backup should tilt the odds in our favor.

"You make a strong case. Alright, who would you suggest?"

"I'm thinking Croagunk, you, Dusknoir-"

"Me?!" Chatot exclaims. "No. No thank you. I've got matters to attend to here."

"Chatot, you're a flying type. You're strong against grass types like Grovyle. And with _the fate of the world_ on the line, we should take every advantage we can."

"...Augh... fine. you're right. I'm not happy about it, though."

"Let's also set up some pokemon at the cave's entrance. If he makes it past us, a second line of defense would do us some good."

"Before we go, I wanted to ask." Pikachu intrudes. "What you saw... Was that the past or the future?" Ah... I had a feeling this would come up. I wish I had a better answer to give.

"...I don't know. There's no way for me to tell."

"So... It could be too late... and he could be on his way to the last gear right now."

"Let's work under the assumption it was a premonition."

"And if it's not?" Chatot adds nervously. "If we get there and the gear is gone? What then?"

"If what I saw already happened, then we'll be back at square one. But we won't know unless we go and look. We should go ready to fight, but also be ready to shift strategies if need be. If there's even a sliver of a chance that we can stop him, we should take it."

"...I guess that makes sense."

"Then let us be on our way." Dusknoir adds. "I do wish to see to his defeat personally."


	26. Crystal Cave

"Well, there's still color." I say to no one in particular. "That's a good sign at least."

"Alright. You all, stay here. Guard this entrance with your life." Dusknoir orders. We agreed he would lead this mission, seeing how he's the most informed about our adversary. "You see that Grovyle, take him out." The pokemon he is ordering nod, positioning themselves facing the mouth of the cave. I'm not really that comfortable with him ordering them to throw down their lives for this. But the stakes are so high that it may be the only way to be sure.

"You ready, Pikachu?" I ask.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Then let's go. The longer we wait, the more likely we are to miss him. Dusknoir, You're going to take point?"

"That's what I plan on."

"Right. Lead on." With that, we proceed forward into the maw of the cavern. Inside a faint blue tint gives us something to see with. Dotting the walls are clusters of fluorescent, sky blue crystals, casting a dim light in the cavern. It gives it the curious effect of being both slightly unnerving and inviting simultaneously.

"You'd better not get me killed..." Chatot mumbles. Yeesh... Is he going to be like this the whole time?

"Relax, Chatot. Remember. Type advantage. It's much stronger than you think."

"But I'm not a fighter. I just do paperwork for a living."

"You forget, fighting is in our blood. Just do what comes naturally." Pikachu adds.

"Where was that attitude when you first came here? I specifically remember you leaving your partner for dead because you were too afraid to fight."

"Chatot..." I growl. "Now is not the time..."

"Watch your tone Alex. Remember who you're talking to."

"All of you, shut up!" Dusknoir growls. "We have to focus!"

"Augh... fine..." Well, at least now we'll have some quiet for a while.

* * *

"Huh... peculiar..." I say as we enter an open chamber. Ahead there were three free-standing crystals jutting from the ground. Each of them different colors. Pink, yellow, and blue. This also appears to be as deep as we can go. The path stops here.

"There's something conspicuous about these things." Dusknoir says. "I think they have something to do with progressing forward."

"Yeah. but what?" I respond. Curiously, I run my hand across the blue crystal. Suddenly it changes color. It shifts from yellow, to pink, and back to blue. All in less than a second. "Woah!"

"That appears to be part of the equation."

"So they change colors." Chatot says. "Perhaps we need to get them all to one color. Question is, which one?"

"And they change so quickly." I add. "Getting them to all match at the same time would be difficult. If that's even the solution.

"Alex." Pikachu says. "I just realized something." I turn my attention to my friend.

"What is it?"

He points to the yellow crystal. "Isn't that the color of Uxie's headpiece?"

"Yeah, but I don't see how that's relevant."

"He turns to point at the pink crystal. "And that one. Mesprit. When you saw your vision, what color did Azelf have?"

"His was... blue..." I stare at the blue crystal. He's on to something."That can't be a coincidence. So... going off the idea that they all need to be the same color, blue seems the most likely, with this being Azelf's domain, after all. That still leaves the problem of how fast they change."

"There's my time slowdown thing."

"That could work."

"Time slowdown?" Dusknoir asks.

"A thing Pikachu can do. He can somehow slow down time for everyone except him. Don't ask me why. We have zero idea." Dusknoir seems to be very interested in this, eyeing Pikachu curiously.

"Odd. I've never heard of such abilities in a common pokemon. But it should help us."

"I agree. Let's not waste time. Pikachu, on the pink crystal. If they all follow the same pattern as the blue one, then it should change to blue the moment you touch it. I'll do the yellow one."

"Sure thing." Pikachu hops over to the pink crystal, readying himself.

"I'll hit it several times. Just in case you miss it the first time around. You ready?" He nods. "Alright. On three. One, two, three!" I touch the crystal, tapping it each time it turns yellow. He'll likely need a few rounds to nail the timing. Then we should be good.

 _Pikachu_

As time slows, Pikachu watches Alex's crystal. Waiting about three rounds to get a feel for the pattern. He unconsciously taps his foot to the rhythm. About a second passes before the color changes. Should give him a decent window. Around the fourth time, he readies himself. Once the crystal turns blue, he touches his crystal, watching it shift into the same blue color. And suddenly, the crystals stop changing. Pikachu drop out of his time slowdown.

 _Alex_  
The crystals, all blue now, begin resonating, a high pitched ringing emanating from them. "Looks like that did something." My words were quickly vindicated as a low rumble echoes through the floor. Man, caves and rumbling really do go hand in hand.

The floor in the center of the cavern begins to crack and split open. I instinctively back away, as does everyone else. From this hole rises a massive crystal cluster. Has to be as tall as a Milotic or Serperior. And inside this cluster there looks to be an archway. a path lower into the cavern.

"We're on the tight track." Dusknoir says. "Come. Let us hurry." We quickly gather behind Dusknoir as he leads on. The path ahead is stunningly beautiful. The entire cavern is crystal. Every surface is smooth and glass-like.

"And, yet again, Another amazing locale to add to our list." I comment. Seriously, how do we keep finding these?"

"Seems like these gears are always in cool places." Pikachu says.

"With some added security thrown in. Dense fog, tricky crystal puzzle, sand pits, makes me wonder what the other two have."

"Can we worry about that another time, please?" Chatot interrupts. "We have more pressing concerns."

"Alright. fair enough. Let's focus on stopping Grovyle." The cave isn't very long as we soon reach a larger chamber. Almost instantly I recognize it. My dimensional scream. This is where it took place! "We're here! I've seen this! Now we just-"

"Enough is enough! This stops now, intruder!" A voice calls out. Azelf. I recognize it

"I don't have time to argue with you." Another voice replies. Wait, this was also in my scream! Grovyle is here! We arrived just in time. "Get out of my way. Don't make me hurt you." As we press forward, they come into view. A standoff between the two. Just like my scream predicted.

"That's them. Down there." I say. "Grovyle is right there."

"Then let's end this now." Dusknoir replies.


	27. Face Off

"We should take him by surprise. Attack from multiple angles." Dusknoir says. "Alex, climb the walls and drop onto him from above. Chatot, strike first. Keep to the skies and hit whenever you get an opening. Pikachu, you keep him off balance with constant strikes. I'll get up close and draw his attention." A good starting plan. I nod in agreement. As does Pikachu. And Chatot, reluctantly.

Dusknoir floats down, in plain sight of the target. Signaling for us to take our positions.  
Nodding, I start scaling the cavern wall and ceiling, going until I'm directly above them. "Grovyle. We meet again." The ghost pokemon says loudly.

Grovyle quickly turns to face him, looking a bit surprised to see him. "Dusknoir?! How'd you get here?!"

"You're not the only one with a time traveler as an ally. It's time to put an end to your destructive rampage."

"I really wish you'd just stay out of this..." Grovyle mumbles as he lunges forward, wrist blades extended and glowing. Dusknoir quickly evades, countering with a shadow punch.

"Chatot! Now!" With his signal, Chatot leaps into the air, dive bombing Grovile with aerial ace, scoring a heavy hit.

"A Guild member..." Grovyle says through clenched teeth. "I recognize the badge... I see Dusknoir has told you his lies. You're on the wrong side of this fight, friend. I'm trying to help you.

"You're delusional. You'll end up destroying us. Come back to our time. We can get you help." Dusknoir says.

"Is that what you've told them? You love making life harder for me, don't you?"

"That's all on you, Grovyle. Now you two!" That's the signal. I watch as Pikachu leaps forward, striking with electro ball. I take a second to line myself up with Grovyle. The, when I'm in position, I drop. I slam against his head, catching him completely off guard. Meanwhile Pikachu, Dusknoir, and Chatot attack with everything they have.

Grovyle shakes me off, tossing me back to the ground. Without a moment's hesitation, I get back up, drawing my leaf blade.

"Remember me?" I comment.

"You survived. And of course you jump right back in my way. Guess the only way I'm getting you off my case is to knock your lights out." He brings his blades to bear on me. Working off of pure instinct, I use my own blade to block. Our weapons collide. A metallic _clang_ sounds from the impact and a small flash of light comes into being, only to vanish as out blades separate. The force of the clash throws me back and staggers me.

Grovyle closes in, ready to attack again. However Chatot dive bombs him again, forcing him to focus his attention on him. As he turns around, I spot an opening. With a quick breath, I swing my blade at his leg. It doesn't do much damage, being a grass move against a grass type. But that wasn't my intention.  
The hit knocks away his leg, causing him to trip up, landing of the floor. "Alright everyone!" I yell. "Now's your chance!" Without hesitating, Pikachu generates one of his mini thunderstorms, letting loose on our opponent. I start pounding on him and Dusknoir spews shadow balls from his chest mouth. Azelf also joins in, striking him with confusion.

To Grovyle's credit, he lasts a long while. But under assault from five different pokemon, one can only last so long. Inevitably, he succumbs, going limp as his consciousness slips away.

"Is it over?" Pikachu asks.

"He is defeated. He will threaten no one anymore." I sigh in relief. That was too close. If He had gotten away, it was very likely we'd never find him again.

"So we just... saved the world?"

"I think we did, Pikachu." I say. "That worked better than I expected. Then again, he was vastly outnumbered."

"Mesprit told me you were coming." Azelf adds. "Thank you for arriving so quickly."

Dusknoir nods to the small, blue pokemon. "Our pleasure. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to take care of our friend here."

"Of course. Make sure he won't cause any more trouble again."

"Believe me. He won't."

* * *

Our return was met with celebration. We had succeeded. Pokemar was safe. And Grovyle was to be returned to the future with Dusknoir. I was proud. As was Pikachu. We had been instrumental in the fight. As we speak the gears are headed back to their rightful places. We had saved the world. But...  
At the same time, something feels off. A sense of tension and unease covered me like a boulder suspended by a frayed rope. Why though? We won. The danger has passed. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

"I owe you all a great debt." Dusknoir says to us. He and a team of Sableye have bound and gagged the Grovyle. A bit unnecessary in my book, but whatever. "Our future has been preserved. And our perpetrator captured. Rest easy knowing you will all live to see another day." Grovyle ttys to say something. Almost like a retort. But the gag prevents anything coherent from coming through.

Suddenly, behind Dusknoir, a dark grey-blue portal emerges. Ah, the dimensional hole. Our way back. It's time we left. Farewell, everyone. I wish you best in the years to come." Another incoherent mumble from Grovyle. Pikachu and I wave, as does everyone else. "Actually, before I go, Pikachu, Alex, come here please." At his words, Grovyle's attitude changed dramatically. He seems shocked. Staring at us in complete confusion.

My friend and I step forward, waiting to hear what Dusknoir has to say. "You two have been my greatest asset in this fight. Your dimensional screams turned the tide in our favor."

"We were just doing what we could. We couldn't let him destroy our future."

"And because of that we will all be much safer. Goodbye, you two. Perhaps I'll see you again."

"Wouldn't that be cool." I say. "Goodbye, Dusknoir."

"Goodbye, Alex. And to you, Pikachu."

"Thank you. Safe travels."

"Oh! And one more thing. I almost forgot to do something."

"What would that be?"

"To tie up some loose ends." Without warning, he grabs us, clutching us tightly. I let out a gasp in surprise. What is he doing!?

"Dusknoir!? What the-" I don't get to finish. Dusknoir unceremoniously tosses us into the dimensional hole, sending us spiraling into Arceus knows where. A dark, malevolent force permeates the shadowy wormhole as the both of us tumble for what feels like an eternity. The dark energy proves too much for me. My consciousness slips away. My final thoughts ones of fear and confusion.


	28. Execution

"Ugh..." I moan as I slowly wake. Opening my eyes I am greeted to the sight of a dull, grey cavern. How did I get here? I try to move, but something stops me. Looking down I see what it is. A rope. A strangely rigid and grey rope. I have been tied to a pole. Why? "Hello?" I call out. "Anyone?"

"Alex?" My friend's voice calls from my left. I turn to face him. He's also tied up, wiggling in a vain attempt to get free.

"Pikachu. There you are. What happened?"

"I don't know. I just woke up like this."

"Alex..." Another voice says from my right. Grovyle. He's in the same situation as us. "It's really you, isn't it? Alex Russet of New Hope."

"New Hope?" I say. "What's... Wait... That's... familiar..."

"Grovyle?" Pikachu asks, his voiced laced with fear. "What's happening?"

"If I know Dusknoir, we're going to be executed..."

"Executed?!" Fear pulses through my veins. I can't die here! Not like this! "Why?! It's you he wanted! Not us!"

"Its... complicated. And I don't think I have time to explain."

"That's right. You don't." Dusknoir's voice intrudes. The last voice I want to hear right now. "I must say. It's fortunate you lost your memory, Alex. Made it easy to bring you to my side. You proved a valuable ally. Sadly, though, Master Dialga wants no trace of opposition to remain. That includes you two as well." Dialga?! The legendary Pokemon of time Dialga?! What is going on?!

I struggle. Thrash. Try with all my might to break free. But no use. I'm trapped. Pikachu also tries in vain to free himself, fear and panic etched into his face. No... No this can't be how it ends! After everything we've done, after all we've accomplished, it can't all end here!

"Dusknoir, please! You can't be this heartless! Let us go! We can reason with Dialga! Let us-"

"No." He interrupts coldly. "My master's word is final. Sableye! Come!" Upon his command, a trio of Sableye arrive, cackling almost maniacally and twitching uncontrollably. They look unhinged. Dangerous. This is it, isn't it? We can't escape. Our story ends here...

"Alex. Pikachu." Grovyle whispers. "I have an idea. I've fought these guys before. Their attack of choice is fury swipes." Fury swipes. A flurry of rapid claw strikes. I've seen it before. "Try to get the ropes in the way of their strikes." That's the best we have? Hope they use a specific move so we can escape?

"And if they don't use that move?" Pikachu asks. I fear the likely answer...

"...Then I'll see you two in the spirit world..." That's the exact opposite of what I wanted to hear... Can we even trust him? Just because he's no friend of Dusknoir doesn't mean he has our best interests in mind. But... What choice do we have? We'll die if we do nothing.

"Now..." Dusknoir says. "Kill them." The Sableye approach, claws bared. This is it... one way or another this ends now. My heart races as they draw near, twitching and chuckling. For all our sakes, I hope Grovle's intuition is on point...

Before long, the are within swiping distance of us. I ready myself, shifting the ropes as best I can. I fight the urge to close my eye and wait for it to be over. No, if I'm to survive, I _must_ stay alert.

Then the moment of truth. And thank Arceus. Grovyle was right. It's fury swipe. I wince in pain as the claws rip into me, but I fight the urge to scream. Instead I focus shifting the ropes into place. I manage to get them just barely in the firing line. And, miraculously, it works. The claws not only cut into me, but the ropes, swiftly slicing them apart. Before long I can rip myself free. Which I do without hesitation, tumbling onto the Sableye and halting his attack.

"What in the name of-" Dusknoir exclaims, clearly not seeing this coming. Pikachu and Grovyle soon follow my lead, freeing themselves and temporarily halting the attacks. But we're not out of trouble yet."

"Quickly! With me!" Grovyle yells. With no other viable option, I comply. As does my friend. Without warning, he grabs us, putting us on his back. By this point the Sableye have recovered and are now charging toward us. "Alright you two, hold on!" Grovyle gets down onto the ground and starts digging. Within seconds a hole begins to form, which he quickly dives into, tunneling through the ground. With remarkable speed he pushes forward, kicking up dirt behind us to try and block our pursuers.

I notice something odd. The dirt he kicks up doesn't fall back down like it should. It hangs there. suspended in place the moment he's no longer touching it. It makes me uneasy. But I don't have time to dwell on it.

We breach the surface, revealing an unexpected and frightening sight. The sky is dark. Without light. No moon. No stars. Just a solid black. The land else isn't much better. Everywhere we look massive chunks of rock float, seemingly ripped from the ground itself and suspended indefinitely. Everything is washed out. Blacks, whites and greys dominate the barren, rocky landscape. The three of us are the only things with color within the immediate vicinity. What is this place?

"Hey. I'll explain once we are safe. Come on." Again, with no real alternative, we follow. I look to my friend. He's frightened. Uncertain. Afraid. And, if I'm to be perfectly honest, so am I.

* * *

Before long we reach a small alcove etched into the rock. Grovyle leads us into it, urging us to keep quiet. While we wait I check up on my wounds. The Sableye got me good. It'll heal, but it's going to hurt for a good long while. If we weren't taken here so abruptly, I might have had some oran berries packed to help them heal faster. But I'll have to make do without for the time being. Pikachu and Grovyle seems to also be checking their injuries. They look about the same as mine. I'm just glad that's all we got. It could have been _much_ worse.

"Ok... I think we lost them." Grovlye says with a sigh. Almost immediately, Pikachu and I let out a sigh as well, relieved to be safe... for the time being, anyways. "Now, I'm sure you have plenty of questions for me."

"Oh, we do." I say. "First and foremost, where the frick are we?"

He hesitates for a second, before answering my question bluntly "This... This is the future. Your future."


	29. Broken Future

"This is the future?!" Pikachu yells out, taken aback by his claims.

"Hush!" Grovyle replies. They're still looking for us. Don't give us away."

"How did this happen?" I ask.

"...How much do you know about the Temporal Tower?"

"Nothing, really."

"The Temporal Tower is a structure hidden on the edge of time and space. And is the home of Dialga, the Temporal Pokemon. From this tower he manages the flow of time and ensures it's stability, using the tower to amplify his abilities. However, every thousand years the tower degrades to the point where it threatens to collapse and stop time itself. When this happens, the three lake guardians you met gather the time gears and take them to the tower. There they use the gears to 'reset' the tower and keep it together." So... is he saying they failed this time around? the tower collapsed and the world was plunged into this timeless Armageddon?

"Well, they've had to have done it hundreds of times already at this point. What could have made them mess up now?"

"Something was accelerating the rate of degradation. What it was, I can't say for sure. But by the time the guardians realized what was happening, it was too late. I... I remember it vividly... The Planetary Paralysis, we called it. A shockwave roaring across the planet... ripping apart everything in it's path, then freezing it all in time. Most of us were caught in the blast, forever locked in a moment of terror. A handful of us were lucky enough to be in places that shielded us from the blast. But the rest... they were gone.

"And this world is dying. There's no sun to grow crops. The food we have here is all we'll ever have. Many of us are starving to death. And those that aren't... have taken to despicable means to survive..."

"So... You were trying to gather those gears..."

"To prevent this. To bring back those who we lost. I worked with three others. A Pikachu named Thunder," Wait... like the Thunder I heard in the dimensional scream in the northern desert? "a shiny Celebi," Celebi. I know them. Time traveling pokemon. That must be how he got to our time in the first place. And possibly how he knows so much about what happened. "and a human. Alex Russet. And you..." he looks to me "Alex could see Dimensional Screams. Visions based around an object he touched that related to what they feel is important. And before we came back to this time, Dusknoir said you used your screams to find the gears..." Wait... could he mean...

"Are you saying... I'm..."

"I believe so. I think you're the Alex Russet I fought alongside." I take a step back, caught completely off guard. I'm... from the future? And I was trying to stop the end of the world? I just stand there. Speachless. Pikachu just stares in shock at me, clearly as taken aback as me.

"I'm... I'm friends with a time traveler? That's... That's kinds cool, actually."

"I... I still have so many questions." I start. But before I can continue, a loud yell echoes across the wasteland. Almost like a war cry."

"Frick..." Grovyle mutters. "Raiders... Unless you want to be next on their menu I suggest we leave. This spot fooled the Sableye, but it won't fool them."

"Can we trust you? I mean, we know next to nothing about you."

"Do you have much of a choice?" ...Frick he's right.

"Ok. Lead on then. You know this place better than us."

"Stay close to me. And don't make any sudden movements. Stick to the floating rocks for cover." Pikachu and I nod. Grovyle nods back, moving forward slowly and cautiously As we emerge from our spot I catch a glimpse of the raiders. A Garchomp, a Krookodile, and a Haxorus. Three brutal pokemon in their own right. But it seems they've gone a bit feral following the planetary paralysis. I can see streaks of blood on their faces and chests. Like face paint. As well as this, they've taken to wearing bones on their person. specifically skulls. If I wasn't sure before, I am now. These pokemon are insane and carnivorous. I am keeping my distance.

"You sure you saw them here?" The Garchomp asks his partners.

"I'm positive. Though I'm pretty sure Krook's battle cry scared them off." The Haxorus replies.

"It's called intimidation, Haxorus. Scared prey is easy prey."

"Scared prey is prey that runs off before we can even reach them. I'm tired of these failed hunts."

"Both of you shut up. They couldn't have gone far. Search the area. I'm dying to get some meat..." Ugh... hearing them refer to us as nothing more than food... It makes me sick to my stomach... Is this the future we have to look forward to?

"Don't stop. Keep moving." Grovyle urges. Sticking as close to him and Pikachu as I can, I keep pressing forward. Away from the deranged trio.  
The raiders, meanwhile, have split up, sweeping the area. Every time one draws near my heart jumps and I have to fight to keep myself from panicking. And then it all falls apart.

I step across a slight drop in the terrain. And, just like when one stumbles after misjudging a step on a stair case, I tumble slightly, letting out an involuntary gasp. It dawns on me very quickly that this was bad.

"You hear that?" The Haxorus says.

"Yeah... Let's go take a look..." the Garchomp leader decides. Oh crap... Oh, this is not good... They're coming!  
Grovyle signals us to get down low. I really hope he has a plan in mind... As we get down, I listen for the raiders as they draw closer. My heart races. I don't want it to end like this. Not is this grim future.

"Three..." Grovyle mutters under his breath. "Two..." He seems to be counting down to when they spot us. I relax an iota, seeing as he has some idea in mind. "One..."

The raiders round the corner, turning to face us. But before they can react, Grovyle yells and lunges forward. In a blindingly fast motion, his wrist blades extend, running clean through the Garchomp. He doesn't even have time to cry out in pain as he dies on the spot.

In an instant, I recall Dusknoir saving us in the Amp Plains. Threatening the Luxray's life to save us. I remember his justification. _"There are times when no other option presents itself. I did what I had to do."_ I cant help but draw comparisons between him and Dusknoir. What have I gotten us into...  
As the raiders reel from the sudden death, Grovyle scoops us up and dives into the ground, digging away to safety. Before long we surface. Well away from the bloodthirsty raiders. I finally let myself relax.

"Did you really have to kill him? Was there no other way?" I ask.

He lets himself smirk slightly. "Well, good to see you haven't changed all that much, Alex. Believe me, I don't enjoy killing. But I had very little time to come up with something. Garchomp would have prevented our escape." ...He's right. Garchomp are famous for being able to "swim" through the ground. Had Grovyle tried our dig escape tactic before dealing with him, he'd catch up with us very easily.

"But why kill? Why not just incapacitate him?" Pikachu asks.

"I didn't really have the time to worry about making sure he lived. I needed to strike fast. Focusing on non-lethal strikes would have slowed me down. Something we couldn't afford. And, look, no one's going to miss a raider. In face, people will be happier this way."

"I still don't like it," I say. "but what's done is done. Now, where do we go now?"

"There's a safehouse up north in the ruins of Treasure Town. We can work out a way to get back to the past there."

"Treasure... Town..." Pikachu mumbles. This will not be pleasant for him. Or me, for that matter. Treasure Town was our home. Seeing it in a state of ruin is not a very encouraging prospect.

"I know. But it's the closest safe place. Let's go. I'll answer more of your questions when we get there."


	30. Echoes of the Past

I was right. The sight of our hometown broken and ruined is heart-wrenching. Buildings ripped to shreds, their debris suspended in the sky. It was almost unrecognizable. But that's not even the worst part.

The streets, or what's left of them, are filled with Pokemon frozen in time. Grey and colorless, just like everything else in this world. All of them are cowering. Crying. Embracing each other in fear. A few staring with a transfixed, horrified gaze at something across the horizon to the west. These emotions, these states of being. Those were their final thoughts... this is what they felt when they got locked in time. What they will feel for the rest of eternity...

As we walked through the crowds I say nothing. I couldn't bring myself to. How could I? There's nothing I could ever say that could do justice to this wretched scene. I can only stare, somberly reflecting on the suffering this planetary paralysis has wrought...

"We're almost there." Grovyle says, breaking the silence.

"Good." I reply. "I can't stand to see my home like this." Ahead is a structure made from the floating wreckage. In spite of that, it looks sturdy. Reinforced to defend against attackers. Well, at least Pokemon are adapting to this wasteland.

The inside is very empty. Like it was abandoned. Might explain why we're alone here.

"This place was supposed to be a small settlement. An attempt to rebuild. But before long, resource shortages forced them to move on." Grovyle says, taking a seat at the makeshift table in the main room. "Makes a good temporary resting place for scavengers, though. Now, no doubt you're wondering what happened to you. How you lost your memories."

"Yes. Please."

"I don't know everything, sadly. But I'll infer where I can." He clears his throat, preparing to speak. "When I first met you and Thunder, you were traveling with Dusknoir-"

"Dusknoir?!" Pikachu interrupts. "The same one who tried to kill us?!"

"Yes. That one. Both Alex and Thunder were wary of his 'ends justify the means' mentality. Doing everything to survive. Often at the expense of morality. They kept a close eye on him in the event he saw benefit in betraying him.

"I first encountered the group arguing over stealing from an unattended camp. My camp. The one I was returning to at that very moment. At that time Alex had lost his Snivy form, forced into his natural human body." Snivy form? I was a Snivy once?

Grovyle seemed to recognize my confusion, telling me about New Hope and their heroic endeavors. Apparently, Thunder and I were on our way to Sinnoh Minor at the time of the planetary paralysis. Grovyle only knew of us because the day before the disaster, news of the Bittercold Crisis finally reached the continent.

"I had been planning the mission to the past for a while before we met." He continued. "And then you come along. With your ability to see Dimensional Screams. A result of a glancing blow from that shockwave of temporal energy." So the shockwave clipped me? Hm. Might explain how I lost my Snivy form... I think... "You took some convincing, but once you decided to trust me, you and Thunder wholeheartedly supported me. So we set out to locate the time gears in this time so we knew where to look when we went back in time."

"And Dusknoir?"

"Well... see... uh... he was being fed lies by Dialga. See, when the tower collapsed, Dialga lost his mind. He went primal. Now he's obsessed with maintaining the new status quo. And he convinced Dusknoir to turn on us.

"His plan went into effect once we reached the gear in the Northern Desert. Dialga and those Sableye ambushed us. He managed to damage the time gear causing..." Grovyle pauses.

"It was a crack in space time. Thunder... he was sucked into it... he was killed." I recall the Dimensional Scream I had at the Northern Desert.

 _"It's pulling me in! Alex, help!"_

 _"I'm coming, Thunder! Grab on!_

 _"Oh no... It's too late!"_

 _"Thunder! No! I can't lose you too! No! THUNDER!"_ So that's what happened...

"You and Thunder were close. Not unlike you and Pikachu here. His death was devastating for you... You almost gave up then and there. But I managed to convince you to keep going. We had found all five gears. And we had to not let Thunder die in vain.

"We met up with Celebi and tried to work out a way to get to the temporal tower. But we didn't have time. Dusknoir and Dialga has found us. We were forced to take the trip back. I think Dialga hit the time gate with a hyper beam or something, because the trip was rough. And you, Alex, were thrown out of the time corridor. If I had to guess, I'd say that's what wiped your memory."

I recall something else. My first memory when I was lost at sea...

 _"Augh! What the-"_

 _"Something's Wrong! I'm... No! No! Help!"_

 _"Alex! I've got you!"_

 _"What is happening!? I'm slipping!_

 _"Just hold on, Alex! We're almost there!"_

 _"I... I can't..."_

 _ **THOOM!**_

 _"Alex! Alex no! ALEX!"_ I see... It's all coming together... It's all starting to make sense. Well... most of it, anyways.

"And what about my transformation into a Treeko?" I ask.

"Here's what I think. As you were getting thrown out, I grabbed hold of you, trying to keep you with me. The only reason I let go was because there was a bolt of some sort of temporal energy. It struck me and then arced to you. Something must have been transferred between us. Hence you becoming a Treeko." Huh... Hadn't thought of that. Grovyles are the evolution of Treeko, after all...

"So... What now?"

"We need to find Celebi. She stayed behind to keep the gate open. And she's the only one who will send us back."

"If she stayed behind during the ambush she's likely been captured or killed... Let's work on the assumption she's alive. Where would they take her?"

"I'm not sure. Our best bet is to head to Deep Dusk Forest and search for clues."

"Wait." Pikachu interrupts. "I need to know now if we can trust you. Just because your an enemy of Dusknoir doesn't mean you have our best interests in mind. For all we know, this could be a trap."

"Pikachu, I think he's being honest." I respond. "Everything he's said has matched up with what I already know. The scream in the Norther Desert, my only memories when I washed ashore. I think we can trust him."

"You're absolutely sure?"

"As sure as I can be."

"Well... If Alex trusts you, I may as well."

Grovyle lets out a slight, relieved sigh. "Good. We should rest up. We will need all our energy for what comes next. Bunks should be in the back."

"Right." I say. "I could use a bit of sleep..."

 _Dusknoir_

"Master Dialga... I regret to inform you that they have escaped."

 **"What!? First you let them reach the past, and when you capture them, your incompetence lets them escape!"**

"Master, I apologize... It was a fluke. You know I wouldn't-"

 **"It matters not, we must stop them. Take the Celebi. Set the trap. I will be there to wipe them out. We will do this correctly, this time. Now go! With haste!"**

"Of course Master Dialga..."


	31. The Search for Celebi

"What should we look out for, Grovyle?" I ask as we walk through Deep Dusk Forest.

"Look for tracks. Signs of struggle. Anything like that. It was a pretty intense fight."

"Right." I turn my attention back to our search. Deep Dusk Forrest hasn't been spared the devastation of the planetary paralysis. The trees are all bare, branches snapped off and floating in timeless limbo. Entire trees uprooted, also time locked. It's a freaky sight. But par for the course in this time period.

"Aha!" Pikachu says, pointing off into the distance. "Over there!" I run to his side to see what he found. And sure enough, he's found something of interest. There is a small clearing pockmarked with craters and floating chunks of dirt. Along with many Sableye footprints, some Grovyle ones, a couple that I think are human, and several large, circular ones.

"Well, if that doesn't scream 'suspicious...'"

"This is the place." Grovyle confirms. "Now we need to figure out where they went after our fight."

"With all the tracks everywhere that's easier said than done."

"Better than being trapped here for all eternity." Good point.

As we begin to look at the prints, a question pops into my head.

"Grovyle, how do you know Celebi?"

"How we met? Well before this all happened I was a forager. I found her hurt from a fallen tree that I think fell due to a storm the night before. I took her in and helped nurse her back to health. She was a legendary, a shiny at that, so I assumed she wouldn't think much of it and just move on. But she decided to stick around. Time went by and we became... fast friends." Wait... is that a blush? He's blushing, isn't he?

"Friends? Or does it go beyond that?" I ask with a smirk.

"Uh well... I... maybe..." well that gives me my answer.

"Alright. I'll stop prying." I return my focus to the task at hand. Scanning over the mess of prints I try to find some indication of where to go. "I would love it if I got a dimensional scream right about now..." but no such luck. Of course it's not that easy.

"Hey guys! Over here!" Pikachu says. Grovyle and I quickly rush over to him. "Looks like these are the ones they made when they left." He gestures to a set of the large footprints moving away. They were faint, making it next to impossible to spot had Pikachu not pointed them out.

"I think you're right." Grovyle agrees. "Come. We must hurry. Who knows how long Celebi has left." His voice sounds of concern. He really cares about this Celebi, doesn't he?

Yeah. They definitely have a thing.

* * *

"Woah! Sableye! Get down!" Grovyle whispers to us. We get behind a wall of sand that was apparently kicked up from the planetary paralysis shockwave. It appears that we are at the beach Pikachu and I met, surprisingly enough. On the far side of the beach stood a cave. A mystery dungeon cave, actually. Uncreatively named "Beach Cave." Seriously, come on guys. You can do better than that.

Pikachu and I have actually been through this one back in our, er... his time period. Easiest dungeon run we've ever attempted. Though the Sableye Grovyle called out were guarding the entrance. My guess is this won't be such a cakewalk this time.

"Alright. Grovyle, take the one on the left. Use dig to get underneath and pull one down. Pikachu, once the second one is distracted by Grovyle's attack, zap him." I half expected Grovyle to challenge my attempt at giving orders. But it's quite the opposite. He seems more than happy to oblige. Guess we did a lot of that before the... wait... no, after... augh. Whatever. Not important right now.

Grovyle starts digging, tunneling his way to the Sableye on the left. Pikachu's cheeks start sparking as he readies his bolt. Without much to contribute at the moment, I wait and watch.

Grovyle strikes, bringing the Sableye under the ground and knocking him out. The other one stares in surprise, hesitating for a split second. That's all we need. Pikachu quickly let's loose a bolt, paralyzing the target. The plan went perfectly. Not something I get to say very often.

"That went surprisingly well." Grovyle comments.

"Yeah, well, that can't be all of them. There's bound to be more inside." I add.

"Right. Let's go. We have a Celebi to save."

* * *

Appart from the occasional Sableye patrol, Beach Cave is just as easy and nonthreatening as I remember. And it's not that big either, so we very quickly reach the end. And by some incredible force of luck, there she is. The pink Celebi. Tied to a pole and gagged.

"Celebi! I'm coming!" Grovyle immediately shouts out, dashing towards her. Celebi responds franticly. Panicked. Her muffled voice comes through from the gag, but it's not clear enough to make out.

That's when I hear it. Thundering footsteps from behind her it takes me a moment, but the situation becomes clear to me.

"Grovyle! Wait! It's a trap!" I scream. Too little too late. The silver beam of a flash cannon attack crashes into him. Blasting him into the cavern wall. Behind is is Dusknoir and his Sableye. We're trapped.

The source of the footsteps approaches us. **"Predictable."** Rumbles the voice of a towering 17.5 foot behemoth of a Pokemon. Dialga. But something's off about him. His skin is darker than what I've seen depicted in artwork. And instead of blue glowing marks, they glow a fiery orange. **"You come** **to rescue her. But now you shall die."**

"Primal Dialga..." Grovyle groans as he picks himself up. "I should have seen that coming..."

 **"You would do well to accept your fate now. There is no escape."**...no... no, there's got to be a way! I just have to think...

Our best chance seems to be Celebi. She could warp us back to the past. But to get to her means facing what Grovyle calls Primal Dialga. And that would appear to be suicidal. But we have one ace in the hole...

"Pikachu. Time freeze." I whisper to him. He nods as he closes his eyes and concentrates.

"Grrrrrgh... I... I can't... it's not working." Oh no... is the planetary paralysis making his ability useless? Oh this is bad...

Dialga opens his mouth, showing a shimmering ball of silver light. He's going to use flash cannon again!

"Move!" I tell Pikachu. We barely avoid the attack as beam lances out at our previous spot. Alright, we need to get to Celebi. It's our only chance to escape.  
"Grovyle! Head for Celebi!" I call out to him. He doesn't hesitate, dashing towards her at blinding speeds, only to be stopped by a shadow ball from Dusknoir.

 **"You must** **realize that this** **is pointless. You will perish. Nothing will prevent this."**

"We're not the kind of Pokemon to lay down and just die." I say, trying to hide my fear.

 **"Then you will die broken and in pain."** He rears up, slamming his front feet into the ground, causing geysers of stone to erupt from the ground. One appears directly underneath me, sending me skyward. After soaring for a brief moment, I land back down with a heavy thud.

"Augh..." I groan. No use attacking him head on. If we have any reasonable chance of surviving this, it's through Celebi. Seems our enemies know this too. The Sableye have surrounded her, creating a defensive perimeter around her. Meanwhile Dusknoir blocks our escape.

"Alex..." Pukachu says, clearly afraid. "I know you don't want to hear this right now but... I'm really scared right now..."

"So am I. But we can't afford to lose focus. Alright. Here's the plan. I need you to get up to the Sableye and hit them with a thunder wave. Paralyze them."

"But Dialga will crush me before I even get halfway! Not to mention the Sableye aren't going to just let me zap them."

"I'll keep Primal Dialga's attention." Grovyle adds. "Just focus on getting Celebi free." True to his word, he zig zags his way toward Dialga, blades drawn and ready. And it looks like it's working. Dialga has broken off to engage him as he attacks the legendary head on.

"Well we got our opening. No telling for how long, though. Quick!" Pikachu nods, dashing forward on all fours while I follow behind. "Let me try and draw their attention." My partner slows down to let me take the lead. I draw my leaf blade, ready to engage.

The Sableye twitch and chuckle, apparently hoping for a fight. Well it's time to give them one. I flourish by blade, trying to make myself more of a interesting target. Then I strike, Slashing at the nearest Sableye. And as I expected, they ready to counterattack. But they don't get the chance as an electric shockwave passes over them, causing them to tense up uncontrollably.

"You're all clear!" Pikachu calls out. I nod, rushing towards Celebi. With a quick swing of my blade, her ropes are cut, and the gag is sliced open. She sighs in relief, floating away from the pole.

"We need to get back to the past. Please hurry."

"Right. Stand back." Closing her eyes, she starts to glow with a teal energy. Reaching out in front of her, a ring of temporal energy forms, which quickly fills in to create a time gate. Our ticket out of here. However, this has not gone unnoticed.

 **"What!?"** Dialga roars. **"No! Stop them! Kill the Celebi!"** I beckon the others to hurry as Dialga turns to face us charging another flash cannon. Dusknoir is also closing in, lobbing shadow balls our way. Though at this distance they're easily dodged.

"Get in! Hurry! I'll close it behind you!" Celebi yells, ushering us in. Grovyle looks at her, concerned.

"You can't stay here. They'll kill you!" Grovyle yells.

"Don't be naive. We've been over this. I can't let them follow you through."

"But they-"

"Once the timeline is corrected it won't matter. Now go!"

"Grovyle! We don't have time for this!" I yell. "Hurry!" He hesitates, unwilling to let her go. Dialga makes the decision for him, blasting Celebi with flash cannon. She slams into the wall, hurt and bleeding, but alive.

Finally Grovyle comes to his senses, leaping into the time gate. Pikachu and I follow suit, Leaving Celebi to die. I didn't want to. But I had to. I just hope I can live with myself afterwards...

 _Celebi_

With a wave of her hand, the time gate closes. They made it. They're safe... She only hopes her sacrifice wasn't in vain.

 **"Foolish."** Dialga's voice rumbles. **"Giving your life for this cause. You have gained nothing. We will find them. We will kill them. And they will join you in the spirit world."**

"Well..." She starts, taking a raspy breath. "That remains to be seen, doesn't it? We might never even have this conversation."

 **"Defiant to the last. Pity. You could have lived a full life had you not been so brash."** With those words, he raises his foot, bringing it down on top of her. Her last moments consist of agony. A bloodcurdling scream. The sickening sound of broken bones. and a final thought. "We'll see each other again, Grovyle, my love... I can feel it..." Then... Nothingness.


	32. Revelations

The time corridor was a kaleidoscope of teal and yellow, shifting and changing as we flew along. I found myself getting dizzy from it all.

I want the believe we're safe now, but I've seen no indication of that being the case.

Grovyle just stares blankly ahead. Likely trying to come to terms with Celebi's probable death. I can't help but feel sorry for him. He clearly loved her.

"Grovyle." I start. "I know it's hard for you to lose someone like that. But she did it for us. We need to keep moving forward. Make sure her death contributes something."

"And besides," Pikachu adds. "She's still alive in the past. If we stop the planetary paralysis, she won't die."

Grovyle closes his eyes, pondering. But before he has a chance to respond, everything flashes to white. A few moments pass as the light slowly dims, giving way to a familiar landscape. The beach. The one I washed up on. And not the dark and dreary one, either.

Sunlight shines upon Pokemar. Waves of the sea are rolling and crashing on the shore. Everything is as it should be. We're back home.

Finally, my heart's tempo slows. I relax. For the moment, at least, we're safe.

"Well, we've arrived. Question is, how long has it been since our disappearance?"

"Let's go to the Guild. They will know for sure." Pikachu suggests.

"Let's not forget that Dusknoir probably knows how to get to this time. And if we hole up in the guild, it would put them in danger."

"He's right." Grovyle agrees. "We need a base that's hidden and discreet. The harder it is for him to find us, the better."

"Well...I might know a place." Pikachu says.

* * *

"Run that by me again, Grovyle." I ask as we follow Pikachu. "How did I travel between Earth and Pokemar again? You're not making sense."

"Let's see. How can I simplify... You told me that your mind would swap between your pokemon body whenever you went to sleep. Go to sleep in Pokemar, you'd wake up on Earth."

"But wouldn't I still be tired? If I switch then I don't get any sleep between those switches, right?"

"You said that the unoccupied body slept while you were away. And you'd return the moment the body woke up."

"So if my human body randomly woke up in the middle of the night I'd just spontaneously fall asleep as I went back?"

"No, you'd continue like normal. When your pokemon self fell asleep, then you'd wake in the middle of the night as a human."

"How? That doesn't make sense."

"something about time moving at different rates? You weren't entirely sure either. Said that the 'Hill of Universal Order' had to mess with the laws of physics a little. Broke logic a bit."

"Alright. We're here." Pikachu says as he pushes a large stone. Under the stone was a hole. and a ladder to go down. "You first, Alex."

"Alright then." Taking hold of the ladder, I step down. The sight of the sea greets me through rows of jagged stalactites and stalagmites. It takes me a second but I connect the dots. I'm inside mouth of Sharpedo Bluff. The large, Sharpedo-shaped rock formation. Well hidden by the massive rows of stone teeth while still having light to see with. Yeah. Yeah, this will work nicely.

"This was your home?" I say.

"Yeah. This was sorta my 'safe zone.' I wanted a place that I was sure was safe."

"Well, I guess you can't get much safer than being encased by solid rock." I walk towards one of the dressers, opening the drawers to see what is inside. Mostly just miscellaneous things likely taken from mystery dungeons. Most if it strikes me as uninteresting. All except for one thing.

A badge, probably. The shape bears a resemblance to the mythical Moltres, the flame pokemon. The Moltres design, colored in a golden yellow, is bathed in orange flames and holds a bright red gemstone in its chest.

It feels strikingly familiar. I feel like I've seen it hundreds of times before. And yet I swear that I've never seen this before.  
I flip it around, hoping to get some extra hint as to the origin of this badge. On the back was a name inscribed into the metal. _Thunder_. That's the name of my friend from back in the future! What does this mean?

Grovyle has since turned my way, glancing at the badge before doing a double take.

"That's a New Hope badge!" He exclaims. "The team you used to lead, Alex!"

"Huh? What is it doing here? Pikachu, where did you find this?"

"I...don't remember. I've had it as long as I can remember." Wait a minute. Is it possible that...

"How far back can you remember?"

"Uh, why?"

"I have a hunch."

"Well, let's see...about five years or so? Seems about normal."

"What about family? Parents? siblings? Even if they passed on you'd certainly still remember them."

"You're right. But...I can't. Why can't I remember them?"

"Grovyle, how likely is it that Thunder survived his trip into the... what'd you call it?"

"Crack in space-time. And it _might_ be possible. But to my knowledge it's never happened before."

"So, let's say hypothetically that someone falls into a space-time crack. Is it possible, by even a slim margin, that they could get spat back out elsewhere and in a different time? Perhaps affect them in such a way the could control time slightly?"

"What are you getting at?"

I pick up a stone lying on the ground looking to my friend. He nods, clearly seeing where I was going with this. I casually toss it into the air, much to Grovyle's confusion. I simply wait for Pikachu to work his magic.

In an instant, Pikachu appears between us, touching us both in order to let us experience it as well. Sounds pitch down and everything crawls to a near halt. The stone hovers in front of us, almost motionless to us. Grovyle just stares is awe, unable to process what he saw.

"How... Only Dialga and Celebi can change the flow of time." He manages to stammer out.

Just as suddenly as it begins, it stops. Pikachu gasps, tiring from exertion as we drop back into normal time. The stone falls, landing with a thunk. Grovyle is still flabbergasted by the unexpected display.

"Then it is you. It must be." He looks to Pikachu. You are Thunder. Alex's lost friend. There's no other explanation." Silence fills the room as yet another revelation has been dropped at our feet.

"So even before I met him, we were friends?" Pikachu-oh, sorry, Thunder, inquires.

"A bond so strong that not even time itself would dare to break it, maybe." I say. "This can't be just luck."

"Well let's hope that whatever force that's keeping your two together will allow us to succeed."

"Right. So, We need to work fast. I say we split up. Grovyle, You know where all the gears are. Gather them up. Pikachu-er Thunder, rather?" My friend nods in approval. Ok. Thunder it is then. "We'll check with the guild to see what we can find on the Hidden Land."

"I thought you said that getting the guild involved will put them in danger."

"That's why we're not staying there. But they have scouted out so much of this continent it would be foolish to ignore their records."

"Alright. And I have a... contact... around here I can meet with who could give us some information." I give him a slightly suspicious glance. "Relax. I can trust them. I don't doubt that."

"Well every possible avenue should be investigated. We'll meet back here tonight and discuss our findings."

"Sounds good."

"I'll follow your lead." Thunder adds.

"Then let's go. Time is of the essence."


	33. New Purpose

"You ready?" Thunder asks me. We stand a foot or so away from the grate at the entrance to the guild. Unexpectedly I feel slightly nervous. I worry about how long it's been. Will they even remember us? What am I saying? Of course they will! It couldn't possibly have been _that_ long.

Pushing the thought aside I answer my friend.

"I am. Let's go." I step onto the grate first, waiting for Diglett to react.

"Hold still! Checking footprint!" A smile creeps across my face as I hear his voice. A familiar voice that brings with it feelings of comfort and security. We're not in the wastelands of the future. We're safe in a place we know well.

A second passes as I wait for confirmation from below. I hear his muted voice from below talking to himself.

"WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG!?" Loudred's voice echoes.

"It's them! It's Shock-Leaf! Thy're alive!"

"ALEX AND PIKACHU!? WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? LET THEM IN!"

With a sudden motion, the gate into the guild lifts up, noisily hitting the hut's ceiling in the process. Looking to Thunder I nod. He nods back and we climb down the familiar hole into the heart of the guild. As I reach the main floor I am greeted to the entirety of the guild crammed into the central room, all awaiting our arrival. My presence triggering a surge of excitement.

"It _is_ them!"

"I thought they were gone for good!"

"What happened to you two!? Why did Dusknoir take you!?"

"All right! All right!" I yell over the crowd. "Everyone calm down!" Slowly the voices fade, leaving the room in silence. "Alright. I get it. You have a lot of questions. I think it's best if I start from the beginning." It's a crazy story. Let's hope they actually believe it.

 _Grovyle_

Shouldn't be far now. She should be close. Grovyle slinks through the trees of Mystifying Forest. He knows she likes to hang around here. She likes the mystic and ethereal energies that permeate the forest.

As he searches, a sound begins to echo out from a nearby clearing. Humming. Someone's humming a tune. It doesn't take long for him to place the voice. Celebi. Her past self before the planetary paralysis. Alive and well.

Walking quietly her way, he fights the wave of emotion stirring within him. A complex mix of relief, dread, joy, and sorrow. He gets to see her alive, but the realization of her fate cuts through it like a Garchomp through the ground.

"No," he mumbles quietly to himself. "focus..." He has a mission. A mission of the utmost importance. And if he completes it Celebi won't die at the hands of Primal Dialga. With a breath, he steels himself, bracing for what he knows will come next.

Celebi turns, spotting him before he has a chance to speak.

"Grovyle! This is unexpected. I thought you were out sparing at the dojo."

"I'm pretty sure I am. Well, in this time I am. See, I'm not the Grovyle of this time. I'm... I'm a future version of him." And here comes the storm...

Celebi blinks, taking a second to process what he said before groaning in frustration. "Oh, for the love of... How do I keep falling for this!? Look. I get it. Sometimes you want a redo. But I can't just keep sending you back in time! We don't need a runaway Butterfree effect!" She takes a second to breathe. "Alright, How are you going to talk me into it this time? And what mess am I going have to clean up?"

"Celebi, It's not about that. I didn't ask for you to send me back. You did it out of necessity."

The time travel pokemon's face grows concerned. She knows just as well as him that she doesn't use her time travel unless there was absolutely no choice. "You're not joking, are you? How bad?"

"How does time-locked apocalyptic wasteland sound?" Her face pales as the true severity of the situation becomes apparent.

"Oh Arceus... Alright. Tell me everything."

 _Alex_

"-if we don't do anything, that future will become a reality." A baffled silence fills the room. As expected, our story is a tough pill to swallow. My true nature as a human, the approaching end of the world, and the realization we were fighting for the wrong side.

Chatot is the first to speak. "Alex, is this some sort of elaborate prank?"

"I swear on my honor as a guild member, I am telling the truth."

"Please listen to us!" Thunder adds. "I know it's crazy, but so was Dusknoir's claims about being from the future. And we went with that."

"You said it yourself when we first arrived. Time itself is distorting. Ant it's only gotten worse since then. Something is clearly going on. And we need to do something before it's too late!"

"I believe you, Shock-Leaf!" Wigglytuff shouts with his eternally joyful tone. Well of course he does. He's not the one I'm worried about.

"You know, I'm with the guildmaster on this one," Corphish adds. "Alex and Pikachu- oh wait, sorry, Thunder, have been trustworthy members of our guild since they arrived. I think we should take them at their word."

"You have a point," Bidoof chimes in. "they've never given us a reason not to trust them."

"IF THEY SAY SOMETHING IS HAPPENING I SAY WE BELIEVE IT!" Loudred shouts. "THEY HAVE A PLAN AND I BET THEY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT!" More and more of the guild slowly joins in, sharing the sentiment.

"Well," Chatot sighs. "I guess I'm outnumbered. What exactly is this plan of yours?"

"We need information on the Hidden Land," Thunder starts. "books, legends, folktales, anything that could give us a chance to find it."

I jump in. "We should also contact the guardians. they need to know what is going on.

"Well you know where the library is," Chatot says. "I'll work with the guildmaster to get some teams to the guardians."

"Good. Now let's go. The sooner we figure this out, the better off we'll be."

 _Grovyle_

"I think I know what's going on with Thunder," Celebi says. "When he got pulled in, he was caught on the boarder of space and time. Part existing inside, part existing out. That part outside gives him some influence over the flow of time. And changes in the timeline wouldn't affect him."

"Woah. I didn't know that was a thing" Grovyle says. "But wouldn't that mean..."

"Yeah, it would." Celebi pauses for a moment. "You never told them, did you?" Oh crap... He has been dodging that question the entire time.

"I... no. I didn't."

"You can't hide it from them forever. They will figure it out."

"But how would they react if I told them? I can't take the risk. Too much is on the line."

"If you're sure..." An uncomfortable silence falls between them. The memory of her final stand races through his head.

"Celebi... If this doesn't work I will lose you. I can't bear that thought."

"Then go. Finish what you came to do. When it's all over we'll be together again."

"...I love you, Celebi." He pulls her close, fearing that this will be the last time they see each other.

"So do I." She replies, Bringing herself up to his face is giving him a kiss. A flood of pleasure and excitement envelops him. He embraces it, returning the kiss.

He doesn't want to let go. Just the two of them. No Hidden Land or planetary paralysis. Just her and her love.  
Inevitably it fades. Contact is broken. And reality slowly sets back in. Grovyle lets her go and she gently hovers in front of him.

"Go," she tells him. "Finish what you started. I'll be here. Waiting for you."

"Thank you. See you soon." With that, He turns to leave, Headed for the Crystal Cave. "This is for you, Celebi."


	34. Connecting the Dots

I knew it wasn't going to be easy to get information on the Hidden Land. The name says it all. But I expected to at least have a loose idea where we needed to go. But apparently it's not that simple. We've been searching for hours scouring every single book and exploration record the guild has. And nothing sticks out.

I groan as I close the book I was reading called Mystery Dungeon Origins and Mapping, basically grasping at straws at this point.

"Still nothing," I mumble. "Any luck over there, Thunder?"

"Looking through Ancient Literature and Iconography right now. Slightly interesting, but I've got nothing relevant." Guess he's no better off than I am. I sigh heavily. Is this seriously the thing that's going to stop us in our tracks? Books? We fail to stop Armageddon because of fricking books? It's so stupid...

"Hm... Hey, Alex. Look at this." My spirits raise slightly. If he's found something, anything, then we have made progress. Marginal though it may be. I walk to him as he hands the book over. The right page is filled with an image of an intricate mural depicting three beings. One I immediately recognize as Dialga in the lower left. To his left is Palkia, and above them, completing the triangle, is Giratina. Origin form, I think.

"Ok, I see the creation trio. What am I missing here?"

"Look at the lines of the triangle joining them. Don't they seem... familiar?" Huh. Now that he mentions it, yeah. Intricate in a way I can't put into words. And somehow familiar.

"You're right. I've seen this before. Hang on. it talks about it here. _The edges of the triangle appear to be designed using glyph patterns consistent with the early Arcesia language. Many glyphs using the same structure have been found in ruins dating back hundreds of thousands of years._ I turn the page to read more, but instead I'm greeted with a glyph I know for a fact I've seen. "Thunder! That's...

"That's what's on my relic fragment! _This pattern is one of the few we've been able to translate. Roughly, it reads as 'key to that which remains unseen._ "

"Wait... Thunder, could it be a key to the Hidden Land?"

"Isn't that a rather big assumption?"

"It's the only lead we've got. Come on." I exit the library, gesturing for Thunder to follow. We reach our room, turning our attention to the relic fragment resting on top of the dresser. Shining with a teal glow. Wait. Wait a minute. Teal glow! A dimensional scream!

"Any idea what we're supposed to do with it?"

"No, but I think I can find our answer." I walk towards the stone, laying my hand over the smooth top. As soon as it touches, my vision blurs and the dizziness begins. The sharp pain and flash of light start the scream proper. I am greeted to images. A cave. one within the cliffs of the shore of the bay. Sharpedo Bluff casts a shadow over the entrance. The cave fades and a mural takes its place. Covered in the same glyphs as the relic fragment. and in the center of the room is a pedestal with a hole in it. A hole the same shape as the relic fragment.

The scream ends, leaving me to catch my bearings in the real world.

"Well?" Thunder asks. "What did you see?"

I reach for our team bag next to my bed, pulling out the wonder map and unroll it on the floor.

"I saw a cave. And a place to put the relic fragment. It should be right here. Slightly north of Sharpedo Bluff right on the cliffside overlooking the east bay."

"That will be tricky to get to. Those cliffs aren't exactly easy to navigate."

"We've been through worse." I roll the map back up, stashing it back in our back. "Let's get ready. The sooner we set out, the better off we'll be."

"Alright. Sounds like a plan."

* * *

"Alright. That should be it." I say as I pack the last of our food. We had returned to our base in Sharpedo Bluff to prepare. Night has since fallen and Grovyle has yet to return. Before we do anything we need to convene with him. Thunder was up top watching for him. "Any sign of him?"

"Nothing ye- wait! There!" he points off into the distance. I climb the latter up to him, seeing Grovyle approaching rapidly. He is carrying a satchel with five glowing gears peeking out from within.

"How'd it go, Grovyle?" I ask.

"Well, the guardians were surprisingly helpful this time. I have a sneaking suspicion you had a part in that."

"I may have had the guild send teams to bring then up to speed.

"Good thing too. Because while I was gathering the gears, I saw something worrying. The gears were all back on their shrines, but time was still frozen in those areas. I fear we may be running out of time." I tense slightly. This is getting too close for comfort.

"Well good thing we found a promising lead on the hidden lands. Unfortunately, it's too dangerous out at night to travel. We'll have to wait until morning."

"Ah. Yeah. Consequence of being on the frontier," Grovyle comments. "let's not stand around then. I don't want to be wasting any time."

"Agreed," I curl up into my bed, letting out a yawn. "plus better to be alert for what's to come. Sleep well everyone."

"Good night, Alex." Grovyle replies.

"See you in the morning." Thunder adds. I let myself drift off, fleeting thoughts of our coming mission occupying my head before letting sleep overcome me."

* * *

"Guys! Guys! Wake up!" Thunder yells. Immediately I dart up, turning to look at Thunder, looking frightened and concerned. Daylight leaks in through the entrance in the roof. Morning has arrived.

"What is it, Thunder?" I ask.

"So I was going into the market to grab one or two extra thing when, well... Look at today's headline." From his bag he pulls out a copy of Treasure Times, the town's local newspaper. And right here in big, bold text reads " _NEW HOPE: HEROES FROM UNOVA MINOR._ "

"That's not really important right now Thu-"

"No, listen! Grovyle said that news of New Hope arrived the day before the planetary paralysis!"

"Wait... So that means..."

"It does. We have only one day left before the dark future arrives."/p


	35. Brine Cave

Narrow ledges, slick surfaces, and a 50 ft drop-off defined our trip to the cavern. It was slow and never wracking. But in the end we made it through, now standing at the mouth of the cavern. The smell of the sea is unusually potent here. It wafts out from the cave endlessly with an intensity that makes me want to back away slightly.

"What was this place called again?" I ask Thunder.

"Brine Cave, I think." An apt name. The walls of the cave are covered in salt residue and puddles of brine water saturate the floor. Where did all this salt come from?

"We should hurry. We don't have much time." Grovyle urges.

"Right. Come on." We press onward, deeper and deeper into the cave. The tunnels are winding and maze-like, clear indications of a mystery dungeon.

"Thunder, pass me the wonder map."

"Got it." He quickly reaches into his back to pull out the rolled map before handing it to me. I give him a nod as I take it. I unroll it and glance at the dungeon layout.

"I say we head left at the next fork." I turn my attention ahead, spotting movement in the distance. Like someone trying to stay out of sight. "Hey, did you see that?"

"No..." Thunder answers.

"Neither did I," Grovyle agrees. What did you think you saw?"

"Not sure. Something moved I think it was a pokemon. It looked like it was spying on us."

"Sableye?"

"No. I'd see their gem eyes a mile away."

"At least it means Dusknoir likely hasn't caught up with us yet."

"Still, not fond of being watched." Thunder adds. "Guess we keep a lookout."

"Nothing else for it. Let's just hope they're only shy." We continue onward, now watching our backs for anything suspicious. A few times I catch a glimpse of something only for it to vanish into hiding once more. Each time our mystery stalker gets bolder, getting closer with each sighting. At this rake they'll be right on top of us in short order.

"Screw this." I mutter. "Hey! whoever's out there, stop hiding! Show yourself!" A moment of silence. And then a response.  
"As you wish, runt." A familiar voice sneers from behind. Oh, for Arceus' sake! Why here? Why now?

"Skuntank," I wheel around quickly. He and the rest of Team Skull stood there, with Zubat carrying the relic fragment. "Really? Out of all our missions, _this_ one is the one you try to screw over!? Do you have any idea how serious this is!?"

"Don't know. Don't care." Koffing adds. Are they seriously going to do this? I scowl in response, angry with this irrelevant intrusion.

"This is beyond you, bandits. Return the relic fragment now. The world is in peril and if we-"

"Are you hard of hearing, reptile? We. Do not. Care."

"This is not a negotiation," Grovyle growls, extending his wrist blades. "last warning. Return the fragment or else."  
I brandish my own leaf blade, stepping forward to back Grovyle up. Thunder does the same, sparks of electricity spitting from his cheeks as he crouched into a ready position. I can't help but smile. He's come such a long way since we met on the beach.

"As suicidal as your little friend, I see. Or are you stupid enough to think that picking a fight with three poison types is a good idea?"

Grovyle doesn't answer. He just charges. Skuntank reacts fast, firing a glob of toxic fluid at him. I move in as well, ducking under Grovyle's legs and slashing Skuntank. He doesn't react that much to the attack, instead swiping a claw at me and forcing me back.

Grovyle quickly regains his focus, using his dig move to burrow underneath Skuntank and strike from below. With Grovyle handling the leader, Thunder and I focus on the far less threatening Zubat and Koffing. Thunder seems to have chosen to concentrate on Zubat. Good. Electricity will ground a flying type quickly. That leaves me with Koffing.

I charge up an energy ball on the tip of my leaf blade, turning to face my new target. Just as he readies to lob a sludge bomb at Thunder I sling the energy ball his way. The orb of green energy explodes on impact, knocking him slightly off balance. As he turns to face me I ready another energy ball, waiting for him to give me an opening.

He spews a cloud of toxic fumes my way, giving me a clear shot down his throat in the process. Taking the opportunity, I launch my payload, striking dead center in his mouth and catching him completely off guard. Now's my chance to take him down. I bring my bandanna over my nose and hold my breath, charging through the purple, toxic mist, leaping up to deliver a roundhouse strike with my blade followed by a focus punch, sending him into the far wall with a thud and falling to the floor.

My enemy now taken care of, I asses the situation. Thunder has landed the knockout blow to Zubat and is now taking aim at Skuntank. I do the same, watching as my friend zips forward in a streak of yellow electricity, barreling into the skunk pokemon before he can even react. I follow closely behind, leaf blade at the ready.

"Stop! Stop! I surrender! Enough!" He screams in frustration. "You've won. We're beaten. Let us go." Aw... I was looking forward to giving him a piece of my mind... But I'm not about to attack a surrendered foe. I stand down, letting my leaf blade fade away.

"Alright. We'll be taking back the relic fragment now."

"Take it... Just leave us." Grovyle grunts, picking the stone artifact off the ground.

"Let's go. We can't waste time." He says, leading the way forward. But there's something else on my mind.

If we just leave them, they'll be left at the mercy of the mystery dungeon. And with only one of them still conscious they don't have a great chance of survival. I can't completely leave them to die. Yes, they've been a royal pain in the tail for as long as we've known them but it doesn't mean I can just leave them like this. It's not right.

"Thunder, hand me the bag quick." He nods, quickly handing it over. I pull out two small reviver seeds. Handing it to Skuntank. "They'll take a second to work. But it should be enough to get you three out of here in one piece." Skuntank looks at me in surprise.

"You can't be serious. Are you so stupid you think that we'd give Shock-Leaf a free pass just because you got us out of a bind? Because once we get out of here, we go back to our old ways. Theft, scams, robbery, all of it. And you guys won't be exempt."

"That's your problem. You only think in terms of selfish acts. I know it could completely backfire. This isn't quid pro quo. This is doing the right thing solely because this is the right thing."

"Alex," Grovyle interrupts. "I know you like your positivity monologues, but can we please just go? We've wasted enough time."

"Yeah. I'll be right there." I set the seeds down in front of Skuntank. "Be safe." With that I turn away, rejoining my team.

"You think that bought some respect from them, Alex?" Thunder asks.

"Not sure. One can hope, though."


	36. Sea of Time

Eventually the cavern tunnels open up into a larger chamber. Arcesian glyphs adorn the right wall while the left reveals a passage out to the open sea. And in the center of the room was the pedestal I saw in my dimensional scream.

"This is it." I say. "This is the place."

"Smaller than I expected." Thunder comments.

"Guess whoever set it up didn't need a whole lot of space." I walk up to the pedestal and look it over. "We probably shouldn't waste time. Thunder?"

"Got it." He walks up to the pedestal, relic fragment in hand. "Here goes nothing." Thunder lifts the fragment up, lowering it into the rough hole on the pedestal.

The stone piece fits perfectly into the hole. And once in place the glyph on its surface starts to glow. The mural follows suit, the light pulsing gently but growing faster and faster as time progresses. Above the pedestal a ball of white light starts to coalesce, hovering a few feet above us. The pulsing from the mural reaches a fever pitch. And from it a beam of white light shoots out at the orb, which in turn shoots out a pulse of light out to the sea. We watch as it speeds off, eventually disappearing behind the horizon.

"Well that looked cool," Thunder comments. "but what did that do for us?"

"Perhaps it's a signal beacon or something?" Grovyle suggests.

"Could be." I say. "Hang on. Something in the water. Coming this way. I think you may have been right, Grovyle." I squint off in the distance, trying to identify it. Blue with a grey back and a tan underbelly. Its head is held up by a tall neck.

"That's a Lapras, isn't it?" Thunder says.

"It is. I guess the light summoned them." A short while passes before the Lapras makes landfall, gently floating her way up to the rocky shore within the cave.

"Wait a minute, you aren't the lake guardians. How did you summon me?" She asks in a soft voice.

"Who are you?" Grovyle asks.

"I asked first."

I speak up. "My friend here used his relic fragment and set off the beacon. What is this used for?"

"This is where I am summoned when the time comes to reset the Temporal Tower. But by my count, that time hasn't come yet."

"You must have noticed how time is starting to unravel, right? Something is happening. And we need to stop it."

"I have, but I have little reason to trust you." Augh... one of these days I want to meet someone who will take me at my word.

Grovyle steps forward with our team bag. He opens it to reveal the five time gears. "We need to reset the tower. Millions of lives are at stake. Don't be the one who stopped us."

Lapras idly bites her tongue as she thinks, looking between us and the gears in our bag. A tense silence fills the empty cave as we await her reply with bated breath.

"Well... alright. Don't make me regret this." I sigh in relief. If this had turned out to be a dead end this late on...

"Thank Arceus." Thunder sighs. "We should leave now. We are on the clock. How fast can you get us to the Hidden Land?"

"If I hurry, I'd say 18 hours at best." Oh frick... that is cutting it way closer than I'd like.

"18 hours is better than never." I say.

"Then hop on and get comfy. It's going to be a long trip." Grovyle gets on first, setting himself on her shell with the bag in his lap. Lapras bobs slightly in the water as she compensates for the extra weight. Thunder and I hop on as well, nodding to her to let her know we're set.

"Let's go." Lapras turns herself around and pushes off the shore, headed back out to the open sky. "If you don't mind my asking, how exactly do you know so much about the Hidden Land and Temporal Tower?"

"Long story. But we've got the time." I reply.

* * *

Night has fallen once again. The three of us try to rest in preparation for our coming mission. But my sleep is wrought with nightmares. Memories of the dark future where the Pokemon frozen in time scream and cry; Begging me to save them. The Raiders of that wasteland finding and killing us; Roasting our corpses over a fire as I watch like a ghostly observer. Treasure Town being blasted to pieces by the shockwave of the planetary paralysis. I am constantly being woken up from these nightmares. I'm getting no rest.

I jump as I wake from another dream. I sigh in exasperation as I look out to the ocean that surrounds us, listening to the gentle rolling of the waves. Deep breaths, Alex. Deep breaths.

I know what the problem is. I'm scared. Scared of what will happen if we fail. The fate of Pokemar rides on what happens tommorow. And I think the pressure is getting to me.

Grovyle has said that I am from New Hope. And that they have fought in a similar situation. So while I can't remember it, I've saved Pokemar before. And if I did it before, I can do it again.

Clinging to this thought I try to rest once again. I can do this. _We_ can do this. Whether we call ourselves Shock-Leaf or New Hope, we will stand tall and fight whatever we must to save what we love. We've done it before. And we can do it again.

* * *

A sharp jolt shakes me awake as my head slams into Lapras' shell.

"Ow! What the frick?!"

"Sorry," Lapras replies. "transitioning from the ocean to the Sea of Time is always a bit bumpy."

"Sea of Time? What are you-"

"Alex, look down!" Thunder yells in fear and awe. "We're flying!"

"What?!" I look down and sure enough we are soaring a good ten feet above the waves. And we're only getting higher. "Lapras, what's happening?"

"Welcome to the Sea of Time, gentlemen. We sale not on water, but the currents of time itself. They just so happens to be invisible to the naked eye."

"Is this why the Hidden Land is so hard to find?"

"Yup. Only a select few can access this place. I am one of them."

"Alex! Straight ahead!" Thunder points to something in the distance. An island? An island floating in the sky!  
The island stands stationary, littered with ancient and crumbling ruins. But the one eye catching thing is an obsidian tower standing high above the rest of the island. But that's not all...

A storm rages above the tower. Reddish purple clouds swirl above in a vortex that shadows the entire island. Crimson bolts of lightning flash in and out of being, crackling with unnatural energy as they lash out across the island, but are especially drawn to the four prongs of the tower's top. And the tower itself looks like it could collapse at any minute. Severe structural damage litters the building, worsened by each strike from the storm.  
We stare at the terrifying display in silence. We are running out of time...


	37. Into the Storm

"Oh, sweet Arceus... You guys were right!" Lapras mutters in restrained terror. "That storm will tear the tower apart!"

"That's why we're here. To stop this before it happens." I say. "How close can you get us?"

"Not very. I'll drop you off at the shore. You should cut through the ruins of the palace to save time." Her eyes point towards the unstable looking structure standing between us and the tower.

"That does not look very safe..." Thunder comments.

"Safety isn't a luxury we can afford right now. Take us in, Lapras." Grovyle says. She nods and she moves in closer. The air grows warmer and more humid the closer we get. The wind howls through the empty ruins like a ghost type trying to ward off trespassers. And punctuating the unsettling ambiance are the flashes of red lightning, booming with an unnatural warped thunderclap. It certainly gives off an end of days vibe.

Lapras pulls up alongside the "shore" of the island, gesturing for us to disembark. One after another we jump off, careful not to plummet who knows how many miles down to the ocean below.

"Could you stay here, Lapras? When all this is over we'll need a way to get back."

"May as well. I've got nothing better to do. May Ho-Oh look kindly upon you."

I nod to her in response before turning back to the team. "Alright. We need to hurry. I'll lead the way."

"We've got your back, Alex." Thunder replies. Without another word we press on, following what's left of the stone walkways up to the palace. As it turns out these ruins are much larger than I first thought. They tower over us, almost begging for some reckless treasure hunter to go and explore. Explorers like us. Another time, perhaps.

We walk through what was once the front door, leading into what looks to be a main hall. Remains of ornate, beautiful stonework murals and designs line the walls. It's almost sad to see such artistry brought low by age. Work that pokemon must have put their heart and soul into lay broken and forgotten.

"Imagine what this looked like back in it's prime." I comment.

"This stuff is some of the oldest I've ever seen... Like first civilization old. I wish we had time to look around." Thunder adds.

"Perhaps on the return trip. Once everything settles down." As we press onward I continue to look at the old, ruined images. Most of it is impossible to make out. The colors are faded and the walls crumbled. However a chunk of it is intact enough for me to just barely make it out. As near as I can tell, it is a picture of a mountain with a black portal in the sky. Black creatures outlined in blue seem to spill out from this portal, engulfing the mountain. And at the base of the mountain is an army of pokemon, all standing ready. Four pokemon stand at the front, leaders, I assume.

At this distance I can't make them out, but they look familiar to me. Two green ones, one yellow, one grey. I stare for a short while longer before returning my attention to the task at hand.

"Question," I say to Grovyle. "Will Dialga cooperate with us when we get there?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the tower's collapse is what sent him primal, right? What if that's already started?" Grovyle is silent for a moment.

"If that's the case then we have to fight."

"Against a legendary pokemon powerful enough to literally control time? That sound like suicide."

"What about my time slowing power? Couldn't that even the odds?"

"A little. It would give us a slim chance of winning." Grovyle says. "Though I would prefer it not come to that."

"You and me both." A particularly loud lightning bolt catches out attention as it flashes into being. It connects with one of the prongs of the tower, sending stone chunks flying. The entire prong comes loose, sheering off the tower and falling onto the ruins below. Above the swirling vortex storm grows, the winds whipping around faster and faster. It roars like an angry Exploud, almost proclaiming the horrifying future it shall bring upon the world. An involuntary chill runs down my spine at the thought.

"Keep moving." Grovyle says, bringing me back to attention.

"Right, sorry." I press onward without another word. But doubt sticks in the back of my mind. What if we fail? What if the tower falls before we can get to it? All our blood, sweat and tears for nothing. Pokemar will become a world of death and suffering. All this just because we were too slow...

"I know that look, Alex." Thunder says to me, rolling right up beside me. "And don't worry. We can do this. We've been through worse and come out alive."

"I... I'm just afraid. Afraid of what will happen if-"

"You know what being with you has taught me? Courage is about making your fear work for you. I've done things that a few months ago I would have never believed I could do in my wildest dreams. All because you showed me what I could do.

"Alex, whatever happens next, we will face it bravely. We always have." A moment of silence falls between us as I run his words through my head. I let a smirk creep over my face.

"Look at you, telling me to be brave. We've come a long way, haven't we?" He nods with a smile. "You're right. All we can do is our-" A flash of purple streaks past the corner of my eye. I glance towards it just as it vanishes behind a stone wall.

"Alex?" Thunder asks.

"I saw something. I think it might have been a Sableye.

"Dusknoir..." Grovyle growls.

"Must have been waiting for us." I ready my leaf blade, keeping a watchful eye out for movement.

"Dusknoir! If you're out there, stop hiding like a coward! Come out and face us!"

"Backs against each other, everyone. I don't want them flanking us." I turn away, facing outward with my blade at the ready, If they're coming at us, we'll see them.

I see movement in the brush. They're trying to stay hidden. Apparently waiting on something.

"Get down!" Grovyle yells. Immediately I crouch as low as I can, narrowly avoiding a shadow ball as it screams past me overhead. That's when the Sableye leap into action. A quick glance behind me reveals that Grovyle is keeping Dusknoir busy, for now. That leaves us with the with the darkness pokemon. I bring my blade to bear, bracing myself as one of them lunges at my face.


	38. A final Confrontation

The clash sounds like steel on steel as my leaf blade collides with the Sableye's razor-sharp claws, coming dangerously close to my throat. Thunder is thankfully quick to react, zapping my assailant before he can follow through. As my opponent staggers I push the attack, Jabbing with my blade.

In my peripheral I spot a second one rushing at me. I break off to face them, still trying to keep the other one in my line of sight. The second Sableye lunges, claws shrouded in shadowy energy. I bring my weapon to bear, deflecting the blow and getting behind him. I slash him from behind, throwing him back slightly before he turns back my way, snarling in anger.

"Alex! Point your blade my way!" Thunder yells as he batters the third attacker. I'd ask why, but now's not the time to waste time with questions. I do as my friend says, pointing the tip of my green blade at him. Thunder's cheeks crackle with raw electric energy for a moment before it discharges into my blade. The power of his attack engulfs my weapon. It's been supercharged, crackling aggressively with yellow lightning. I'll have to remember that tactic.

The two Sableye rush me as I turn to strike. My blade connects with one of them, discharging the electric energy in a plume of sparks and bolts. And I instinctively shield my eyes from what felt like the brightness of the sun. Opening them again, I see the two Sableye lying unconscious on the ground, whips of smoke rising up from their burns.

I take a look around. Thunder has nearly dealt with the last of the Sableye, but Grovyle is fighting a losing battle. He is forced on the defensive and Dusknoir's not showing any openings. Time to lend a hand.

I leap forward, attaching myself to his back, nearly phasing through him. His body sits somewhere between solid and gaseous, making it impossible to get a good grip. I'll have to do this quick. I clasp on as best I can, trying to dig into his "skin." I use giga drain, channeling his life force through me. But just as soon as I start, Dusknoir phases out, leaving me to fall back to the ground. Before I get the chance to get up, I see him looking down at me, A light blue ball of flame in his hand. Will-O-Wisp.

I scramble to my feet, but not quick enough. Blue fire spews from his hand, consuming me in flame. I grit my teeth while my skin cries out in pain. I stand my ground as the fire fades, leaving me black and charred with burns. That sapped me of a lot of my strength. But I can't give up now.

Grovyle has taken Dusknoir's attention away, pelting him with a leaf storm. Thunder rolls up beside me, concern etched in his face.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just focus on Dusknoir." He nods, readying an electro ball at the tip of his tail. He dashes ahead, flinging the orb straight at Dusknoir's face. The ball explodes on contact, but he doesn't even flinch.

"Oh crap... We need a new tactic. And fast." Thunder says.

"It's the phasing. He can become intangible whenever he wants. I was could somehow stop him from doing that, we may have a chance."

"But how?"

"My best guess is the both of us get up in his face and keep his attention on us. Force him to stay tangible to strike. Grovyle is the heavy hitter and could get some good strikes in from behind and we're fast enough to keep pace with Dusknoir."

"Sounds good. I'm right behind you." With a plan set we leap into action. I start attacking from behind with my leaf blade while Thunder zips around in short bursts of high speed, using his time control powers sparingly, but often enough to give him an advantage in the fight. Our plan seems to be working. Dusknoir has shifted his attention, readying another Will-O-Wisp and staring us down. Time to put that agility to good use.

Once again a plume of blue flame roars out from his palm. Relying on instinct I roll out of the way, narrowly avoiding a repeat of last time. I hear him grumble in frustration right before Grovyle strikes from behind with leaf blade, sending the ghost type reeling.

He recovers quickly, readying a Shadow Sneak attack. He melts away into his shadow, all but vanishing from view. I watch the ground for his shadow, but he slips by.

"Stay vigilant. Don't let him sneak up on you." I say. The three of us stand alert, jumping at the slightest movement. But surprisingly, he doesn't surface. I keep expecting to see him lunging at us from the ground, but he doesn't. What is he doing?

A slightly louder than usual thunderclap brings the answer to mind. He's stalling. He doesn't strictly have to kill us. Just prevent us from completing our mission. The longer this engagement goes on, the worse our chances of success become.

"He's toying with us..." Grovyle mutters. "We need to make a move."

"I'll make a run for it. "Thunder whispers. He gestures to his bag, the light from the time gears bleeding through the thick fabric. "Maybe force him back into the open. Then I can lock him in time long enough for you to strike." Risky... But it might be our best chance. So long as he doesn't overdo it and exhaust himself, It could work.

"Just don't burn yourself out trying. I'm not going to lose you." I take out a blast seed from the bag before he buttons it up. We'll need a ranged option if we want to stop him before Thunder falls to him. Fingers crossed this actually works.

"Here we go..." Thunder sprints ahead towards the tower, making good time. I climb atop Grovyle to get a better vantage and spot to aim.

"See anything?" I ask Grovyle.

"...I think... Yeah. Dusknoir's giving chase. Get ready." Sure enough, a deep, black shadow rapidly closes the distance. It's now or never. I only get one shot at this...

He's almost overtaken Thunder. I force myself to take deep breaths. I must keep a clear head. I have to wait for the right moment.  
"Almost... A little more..." I mutter quietly. "Go on... Show yourself..."

After what feels like an eternity, he lunges. Dusknoir reaches out, ready to strangle the small Pikachu. We won't give him the chance. "Now Thunder!" I watch as The two of them slow to a crawl. He's wide open. And an easy target.

I throw the blast seed with everything I have. It streaks ahead, striking my target moments before he brings his fists to bear. The small explosion catches him completely off guard. And Thunder takes advantage of it.

Breaking the time lock and shrouding himself in electric energy, he quickly builds up a massive charge before letting loose on the gripper pokemon. Grovyle rushes to join, with me still on his head. We have the upper hand! Time to put an end to this.

Grovye runs his blades through our enemy while I latch on and use giga drain once more. This time it's too much for him. battered and beaten, he collapses, groaning in pain. We did it... A wave of relief surges through me. We won. Dusknoir is no longer a threat. I take a deep breath as I let the adrenaline subside.

"Finally..." Thunder says. "Let's go. We're on the clock here." I nod, walking up alongside him . Grovyle does the same and we continue onward.

"You know... I never thought... About how ironic... this all was..." Dusknoir says between pained grunts. "You two... Team New Hope... Saviors of Pokemar... now dooming us to oblivion." What? The heck is he going on about?

I look back, seeing Dusknoir trying to get back up, but failing. "What are you saying? We're doing this to save everyone." I reply.

A smug grin spreads across Dusknoir's face. "Oh? Hehe... Did Grovyle never tell you? So untrustworthy... Did you ever stop and think what will happen to our future if you change the past? We vanish. Every single person of our time... all of us... Not only will we cease to exist, we will have never existed.


	39. Fear

What he says makes sense. Too much sense. Is he actually telling the truth? No, it has to be fabricated. Grovyle would have told us... wouldn't he?

I look up at him. He looks nervous. Why would he be nervous. Unless...

"Grovyle?" I ask, dreading the answer. "He's just messing with us... right?

Grovyle stutters for a second before letting out a defeated sigh. "No... he's right. It was always a suicide mission."

My jaw drops. He kept this vital information from us?! This whole time?!

"You lied to us?!" Thunder gasps.

"I didn't lie! I just... I didn't tell the whol-"

"Shut up!" I scream. "Don't pull the technicality excuse on us! We trusted you. We've put our lives on the line based on what _you_ told us! And no we learn you've been withholding information from us!" Govyle steps back, clearly unprepared for my reaction.

"I couldn't trust letting it change your mind! To much was at risk!"

"Trust goes both ways, Grovyle! If you can't bring yourself to trust us why should we trust you!? What else have you kept from us?!"

Grovyle stammers, struggling to find words. "W-well... Thunder will survive! I talked with Celebi from this time and she told me that the same thing that gives him his powers protects him from changes in the timeline. That counts for something, right?" He tries to inject optimism into his voice, but the desperation is clear.

"So you're saying I'll stay, while Alex-" Thunder stops mid sentence, the realization hitting him like a tidal wave.

"Ah... you will be left alone as you watch your friend perish..." Dusknoir interjects. "If wiping out an entire world's worth of pokemon doesn't convince you, Alex, consider your dear friend. You wouldn't dream of putting him through that sort of torment, would you?"

"You can't possibly be considering letting Pokemar die." Grovyle says. "Dusknoir tried to kill you! You can't trust him!"

With my anger spent in the outburst, logic and reasoning return. I have a choice laid out before me. Two options of extreme consequence. If I go through with this, Pokemar is saved from a horrific future. But all life in that future will be erased. Or... will it? Everyone who is in that time is either locked in a moment of terror forever, dead, or struggling to scrounge up enough to survive. If I do this, they will all get a chance to live their lives starting from this moment onwards. But is it worth wiping out all that history in the process? And what about Thunder? Can I bring myself to possibly losing him for good?  
I think hard on it. My decision will influence the team. I must be certain. With a breath, I come to my decision.

"Grovyle... You're right. You betrayed our trust, but you're right. For everyone's sake, this must be done.""

"Unbelievable. You are a gullible fool, Alex..." Dusknoir groans.

"To rob the pokemon of the world a chance at a life worth living because of losing our future selves is selfish."

"And you'd make your friend suffer for that?" I wince at his comment. That fact in particular stings the most.

"...I don't make that decision lightly. Too much is at stake. I must do this."

"No. I will not face oblivion! You will not be my demise!" With a pained groan, he throws something at me. A blast seed engulfed in blue flame. He's infused it with a will-o-wisp!

I instinctively close my eyes, waiting for the blow to come. But I feel something push me aside. I open my eyes to see Grovyle grabbing hold of me and shielding me from the blast. With a deafening boom, the fiery explosive detonates on Grovyle's back. The both of us are thrown back from the blast. We tumble to a stop shortly after. He gasps in pain, laying stiffly on the ground.

"Alex!" Thunder cries, rushing to my aid.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." I turn to face Grovyle, who's breathing has become raspy and slow. The fire-type strike must have hurt badly. "Hey, Grovyle? You ok?" I catch a glimpse at his back. It's bad. There's a lot of blood. And the sight of blackened, blistered flesh nearly makes me gag. It looks like the burn goes deep. As do the cuts and gashes from the tumble. I take a glance back at Dusknoir, hoping he won't take another shot at us. Thankfully, he seems to have passed out. One less problem to worry about.

"I'll get some pecha berries." Thunder says ans he opens his bag.

"Oran too. He's losing a lot of blood."

"It's too late..." Grovyle manages to croak out. "I'm not going to make it..."

"Shut up. Don't do this. We don't have time for it."

"Exactly... Time... Forget about me... Finish... What we started."

"We can't just abandon you!" Thunder replies.

"We don't... Have the choice... Go... Now..."

"And just leave you here to die?"

"It won't matter when... The timeline is set right... Please... My final wish... Go..." His words strike a cord. I remember why it is we are here. We don't have time to spare. I can't risk the fate of the world just for one pokemon. It's a hard choice. But one that must be made.

"Alex... Are we really doing this?" Thunder asks me.

"We have to. No one else can." I look back to Grovyle one last time. "You have my word. We will end this."

"Thank you Alex... I guess... This is goodbye." A warm stream of tears runs down my cheek. Am I crying? I barely even know him. And he was going to lead me to my death without my say.

I guess it makes a little sense. He was an ally to us. And he was willing to put his life on the line to save the world. Pokemon like that are few and far between. And, honestly, for a while I considered him a friend. Even now I can't help but care about him. But it's time to let go.

"Goodbye, Grovyle." I say.

"May Ho-Oh look fondly upon you..." A subtle smile creeps across his face before he finally drifts off. His eyes close and his body goes limp. One last breath... And he's gone.

It takes a moment for the both of us to recover. We just watched someone die. Not an easy experience. Eventually I collect my thoughts and take a deep breath.

"We should hurry. The sooner we finish this, the better.

"We should at least bury him."

"We'll do it on the return trip."

"You mean _I'll_ do it. You'll be..." A moment of deafening silence engulfs us before Thunder speaks up once more. "Alex... I can't let you die."

"Thunder, you know we have to. We've seen what happens if we don't."

"But life without you? I owe everything I have to you. I'm only living the life of my dreams because of you. To lose you... I can't bare to imagine that." I swallow a lump in my throat. Images of my friend forced to live without me by his side conjure into being. It would be hard on him, wouldn't it? But I can't stop. Not now. Not with everything hanging in the balance.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. We can say our goodbyes and I'll do it myself."

"How is that supposed to help?!" Thunder yells, on the verge of tears. "Alex, I'm nothing without you! I'm just that coward you met on the beach! I can't lose you!"

"Thunder, please, We don't have time for this!"

"We can still live! The both of us surviving! We can make it, I know we can!"

"Thunder, stop!" Thunder looks at me in surprise. I can see tears glistening in the light of the sun.

"Alex... I... I won't let you do it." He crouches into a ready stance. A combat stance. He cant be serious... "I'll take you out if I have too!"

My breath catches in my throat. He's absolutely serious. Desperate to keep things the way they are. So much so that he'll fight me just to stop me. Am I going to have to fight him? I might have to...

"Don't make me do this Thunder. Please. I don't want to hurt you." I hesitantly assume a ready pose myself. I'll do it. Only because I have to.  
Several seconds pass as we face down. My friend's resolve seems to be shaky. He's starting to waver. Suddenly a fresh wave of tears leak out. He breaks stance, falling to the ground in a sobbing mess. I'm quick to reach his side, grabbing him in a hug and giving him a shoulder to cry on.

"I-I'm so sorry. I'm j-just so scared of losing you..."

"I'm scared too, Thunder. But this is bigger than us. I can't let the fear control me."

"I-I'm not strong enough. Not without you..."

"You are. Ever since you saved me from Drowzee you've proven you can push aside that fear to do what you need to do. You've done it before, You can do it now."

A crimson bolt of lightning interrupts us, striking the tower once again and shattering another prong. My attention returns to the task at hand.

"When we first got here I told you that we would face whatever came without fear. I'm going to hold myself to my word." Taking a deep breath, Thunder collects himself. "Let's do it, Alex. One last adventure." The finality of his words strike me. This is it. The last time we will see each other.

"Thank you, Thunder. Let's make it an end to remember."


	40. The Temporal Tower

Standing tall and proud, the Temporal Tower looms above us. If the stakes weren't so high I'd take the time to admire it. But as it stands the tower could fall any minute now. We must keep going.

The two of us stare into the entryway. The tower's layout looks like a labyrinth upon first glance. And call it a hunch, but it looks bigger on the inside the outside. There's no mistaking it. The tower is a mystery dungeon.

"The one time we don't want one of these things..." I grumble. "I'm thinking we scale the tower. Faster than wandering around a dungeon for who knows how long."

"You think you can carry both our weights?" Thunder asks.

"Only one way to find out." I walk up to the wall of the tower, testing my grip on the stone. My fingers stick to the stone easily. I pull myself up a small bit, checking if the stone can support me. I don't feel the bricks of the wall shift any significant amount. "Get on."

Thunder nods, jogging up to me and taking hold of my shoulders. Turns out he's heavier than I thought. I very nearly lose my grip and tumble back down the inch or so I've climbed.

"Woah! Careful Alex!"

"I'm okay. Just give me a second." After a moment to recover I begin the climb. The added weight of my friend makes it significantly more tiring, but I won't let that stop me. Not when we're so close.

The climb is slow. Too much for my liking. It's burning time that we might not have and is driving me crazy. I half expect the tower to keel over right now before we hit the halfway point.

"Ah!" I yelp in surprise as a chunk of wall I was holding onto suddenly comes free. I let go instinctively, letting it tumble all the way to the ground. "Frick..." Turns out we've climbed quite a bit further up than I thought. If nothing else, it means we're making progress.

Apart from a few other similar incidences the rest of the way up was mercifully uneventful. Before long we were within arm's reach of the roof of the tower.

"Just about there." I tell Thunder.

"Alright. Let's get it over with."

I reach out and start to pull myself up. Thunder disembarks once I've got a hold. I quickly climb up and take stock of my surroundings.  
Above the reddish clouds continue to swirl violently, crackling with bolts of red lightning. A pedestal sits in the center of the tower filled with ancient clockwork. I spot five pegs in the device that look like they should be holding gears. And the spaces are about the size of the time gears. That must be where we put them.

The last thing I notice draws my full attention. Dialga. But not his natural form. He's gone primal.

 **"Trespassers!"** He roars with a deafening voice. "You dare step foot on my tower!?"

"Wait! Listen! The tower is going to fall! You have to let us use the time gears!" I yell.

 **"The time gears!? So not only are you trespassers, you are thieves as well! You must be responsible for the destabilization of time!"**

"No, we're here to stop it! Please ju-"

 **"NO! Those who cross the legendary of time shall feel his wrath! You will pay for your crimes with your lives!"** Seriously?! We can't afford this right now!

His mouth opens wide as he readies a flash cannon attack. I dive to the left as the beam of energy rips across the floor, missing me by about a foot. I recover my bearings and brandish my leaf blade, whatever good that will do me against a 17 foot tall legendary. Yellow bolts of electricity lash out at Dialga as Thunder tries to draw him away. Thankfully the bolts appear to be having an effect. Not a significant one, but an effect nonetheless. He has the best chance of keeping Dialga's attention. Perhaps that will give me a change to get the gears in place.

"Thunder! The gears! Give them to me!" I yell. Thunder turns towards me and zips my way in a flash of electric light. He reappears next to me, handing the bag off. "Keep him busy. I'll get the gears in place."

He nods in understanding before firing off a shot at Dialga and zipping back into action. I waste no time. I sprint to the central pedestal with the gears in hand. I pull one of the gears out of the bag and ease it onto one of the bare pegs. Immediately the gear seems to magnetize to the peg, locking it in place. The entire tower lets out a low, rumbling groan in response.

 **"Stop! Those gears are not yours to meddle with!"** I turn to see Dialga facing me, the fan-like protrusion on his back splayed out wide. He inhales deeply before letting out a time-rattling roar. I take the brunt of the blast, waves of distorted temporal energy washing over me. I wince as I feel my body go painfully numb before I become locked in time like a statue. Meanwhile Dialga takes a moment to recharge.

"Alex! Hold on!" Thunder takes the opportunity to come to my aid. He dashes towards me and takes hold of my hand. Using his time manipulation ability he tries to break me free of my time lock. Slowly the numbness starts to dissipate. But Dialga is recovering fast.

"A little faster, please?" I mutter, finally feeling my lips again.

"I think I'm just about... There!" In a flash of light I am free. But Dialga is ready once more to attack.

 **"Time is my domain! I will not have some pathetic mortal pokemon upstage me!"**

He inhales once more. A telltale signal for us to get moving. We book it in opposite directions, evading a blast of energy-laced purple breath. I wait for Thunder to take his attention again before going for the pedestal. It doesn't take long. Dialga certainly finds my friend's thunderbolts especially annoying. His lightning fast reflexes more so.

The opening is here and I take it. With two gears in hand I sprint ahead and slam them into their places. As the tower rumbles once more Dialga's strength appears to wain. The fiery red glow of he chest has begun to dim and his movements become slower.

As before, this does not escape our opponent's attention. He fires another temporal shockwave towards me. This time I'm ready for it. I duck underneath it and strafe to the left. Dialga repositions himself too, right above the pedestal. He's trying to block any attempt to get close to it. And I don't think he's going to fall for a distraction anymore. We need a new plan.

"Alex! Throw me a gear! I'll make a run for it!" Thunder yells. He has a point. If we can split his attention, we might have a chance.

I make a run for it, narrowly avoiding a kick from Dialga. Grabbing a gear from my bag I pass it off to him.

"I'll try to go in from behind," I say. "Let's end this quickly." Thunder nods in response before zipping back towards Dialga and letting loose a flurry of electric bolts.

With the legendary pokemon distracted I sprint around behind him; not going unnoticed, unfortunately. Dialga brings his tail to bear on me. Its swings wildly and forcefully as he blindly tries to keep me away. It is without a discernible pattern for me to predict. I'm just as likely to get swept off my feet and probably off the edge of the tower as I am to getting through.

I take a moment to try and spot an opening. Once the tail swings wide I'll have my best shot. Patently I wait, watching the thick appendage sweep across the floor before raising up and curving away. There! Now's my chance! I lunge forward, focused on the pedestal. With my gear in hand I slam it into the slot. The tower rumbles once more in response. Just one more gear...

 **CRAKOOM!** The deafening sound of a bolt of lightning striking the tower sends a sharp pain through my skull. I barely have time to comprehend what just happened, however. I feel the floor give way beneath me, dropping me into the tower. As I reach out for something to grab onto my fingers brush up against the wall of the tower. I take hold, letting my Treeko fingers latch on. A few seconds later I come to a full stop, giving me a chance to assess the situation.  
I look up to see a huge hole in the roof of the tower. That lightning bolt must have hit a weak point n the structure. Below me I hear Dialga roaring in anger. Seems like he fell as well. Perfect. We have a chance!

"Alex!" I hear thunder yell. "Are you okay!?"

"Don't worry about me! Get the last gear in place!" Above us the swirling vortex is reaching a fever pitch, spinning at blinding speeds and slowing steadily brighter with an angry red glow. We must be seconds away from the tower's collapse! "Thunder! Hurry!"

My friend nods as he readies the last gear. He stares at it with a conflicted gaze. He glances back and forth between the gear and me. Immediately I know what's going through his head.

"Thunder, please," I plead. "we don't have time!"

"I... I don't know if I can..."

"Thunder, I know this is hard, but you _must_ do it!"

"I can't lose you, Alex! I can't!" I can't think of anything more to say. All I can do is look into my friend's eyes and plead.

Above us the storm bellows out a sound I can only describe as the sound of destruction incarnate. It's too late. A crimson beam of light descends from the eye of the storm like a spear from the heavens. I tense up and close my eyes, bracing myself for what will likely be eternal agony. This is it. This is the end.  
I hear the tower shatter as it rips apart from the force of the blast. I feel the wall I'm attached to crumble beneath my hands. The sound of chaotic energy tearing the fabric of reality itself asunder. And then... silence.

But in spite of everything, time hasn't stopped. I don't feel anything abnormal. I open my eyes and to my surprise, there's still color. Thunder and I are suspended in a cloud of obsidian fragments that used to be the tower. But the land below still holds color. The deep blue of the ocean, the green of the foliage, it's all still there. And then I see it. The pedestal. Hovering a few feet above me. Still intact. And with all five gears spinning like nothing had happened.  
The silence gives way to a low droning sound. I watch as everything starts to float upwards. Obsidian rocks merge together, slowly building the tower back up. The broken remains of the ceiling raise me back up to the top. The storm rapidly begins to dissipate, letting the sun shine on the now rebuilt tower. The stonework of the tower looks smooth and flawless, the polar opposite of what we saw when we first arrived. It looks as if it was just built.

Slowly the droning sound subsides and the gears come to a stop, leaving me, Thunder, and Dialga standing in silence. And thankfully for us, the fiery orange glow has been replaced by his natural blue aura. Primal Dialga is no more. Against all odds, we had stopped the end of the world before it even began.


End file.
